Tortured
by keepcalmandwrite
Summary: Natasha, Clint, Tony, Steve, Bruce and Thor are all kidnapped and tortured. How will they cope? Will it bring them closer as a team? Or tear them apart? Natasha/Clint DISCLAIMER: I DON NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N So tester chapter please let me know if I should continue. Heads up will be very dark but hopefully interesting. Clint/Natasha I think not sure yet though, should I continue or not….?**

Tony woke up with a very sore head, his first thought was hangover, but then he felt the cold stone wall behind him and smelt the damp, he knew it wasn't a hangover, it was much worse. His eyes slowly grew accustomed to the dark and he looked around ignoring the stiffness in his neck, the other avengers were there to. Steve had his back propped up against Thor who had his head dangling down lifelessly, Clint lay spread eagled on the floor and Bruce looked oddly peaceful just lying there. Natasha was currently stuck in between Steve and Thor her head resting on Thor's chest while her legs rested on Steve's, at least she's comfortable Tony thought.

"Tony…?" he heard Natasha ask her voice quiet but sounded loud bouncing of the grey wall.

"Yeah Tash, I'm here, are you hurt?" he slowly started walking unsteadily over to her

"Not majorly I don't think anyway. What about you?" she asked struggling to sit up; Tony kept his hand on her shoulder holding her down and began checking for injuries

"No I'm fine, do you think the others are ok?" he lifted her shirt and saw bruises littering her ribs and stomach, his relationship with Natasha was like an older annoying but protective brother and he hated seeing her hurt, they all did, she was there girl, as much as it annoyed her.

"They're tough, I'm sure they'll be fine, where do you think we are?" she asked shivering slightly, before he had a chance to answer the steel door burst open and about seven men all heavily armed flooded in.

"Don't move!" their leader shouted, his voice dangerous, he had a heavy accent but neither avenger could place it "So our robot and spider are awake, but the others are not, don't worry we can just have fun with you two first" Natasha and Tony looked at each other

"Where the hell are we? Who the fuck are you?" Tony asked impatiently, the man and his soldiers walked towards them and hit Tony swiftly in the stomach, four times

"You ask too many questions, you do not need to know where you are or who we are all you need to know is that we really do hate the avengers and plan to make you all suffer" he turned to face Natasha slowly advancing towards her "You are very beautiful my dear, maybe we can talk later" he winked, but she just stared blankly at him, a trail of blood running down her forehead. He roughly grabbed her by the throat and pinned her against the wall behind them, Tony moved forwards but two men held him back while twisting his arms.

"Maybe I will see you first, yes? I will take pleasure in hurting you, so beautiful, we will definitely have fun" Tony and Natasha both cringed at the lust in his words but neither showed it. Natasha didn't have the energy to push him off her, but she did grab his wrist trying to relieve the pressure on her small throat, she really couldn't breathe, Tony started to get more desperate ignoring the pain. Natasha grew panicked and did what came natural to her; she kicked him between the legs, really hard. He stumbled back as she slid down the wall gasping; she caught eyes with Tony who looked worried.

"You bitch!" he man shouted pulling her up by her hair and hitting her again and again before throwing her to the floor, she tried to catch herself but her legs buckled, she felt so weak it was frustrating. "I will see both of you very soon" his voice a low snarl, him and his guards exited then, as soon as they let him go Tony was next to Natasha, helping her stand.

"Shit Nat, I'm so sorry are you ok? Fuck you're bleeding, you're shaking, why are you shaking? Are you going to pass out?" his voice was beginning to reach hysterical so Natasha slapped him

"Tony calm the hell down, I'm not going to pass out its just cold" she explained spitting out some blood, he watched concerned. He looked around the room for a source of warmth, while he was distracted his grip on her loosened and she feel to the floor, she expected to hit her head hard, but instead strong arms caught her

"Whoa, what the hell happened? Natasha are you ok? What's going on?" it was Steve, his voice was tense but his arms were cradling her softly.

"We've been kidnapped, me and Natasha had the pleasure of meeting our captor and he isn't the nicest of fellows, he did that" he gestured to Natasha's small form, a lump of guilt rose in his throat; he should have stopped it sooner. Clint woke up then, his yell alerted them all, Tony jumped towards him standing in front of Steve who was trying to protect Natasha.

"Clint, look it's me, Tony, and Steve and Natasha, we've been kidnapped" there was silence until Clint stood, he nearly fell but Tony gripped his arm before he could, he soon spotted Natasha and Steve and was instantly knelt by her

"What the fuck happened?" he questioned anger evident in his voice

"Like I said to Steve, me and Natasha woke up first and the leader came in, he wasn't very nice" Tony explained sadly

"Don't over-react I'm ok, it's not that bad" Natasha interrupted wincing as she wriggled to get more comfortable

"I don't know it looks pretty bad" the calm voice of Bruce Banner echoed in the room, him and Thor both sat up glancing around suspiciously

"Well it's not, how did we all manage to get caught anyway?" Natasha asked, it was a fair question, everyone seemed stumped for a minute before Thor said

"I believe my brother has something to do with it, I'm just not sure what"

"He always has something to do with it" Clint muttered angrily. Natasha was resting her head on his chest but still close to Steve, they were all sat against the wall, while Tony, Bruce and Thor sat opposite them in various positions

"Is anybody injured" Bruce asked trying to remain calm, everybody shook their heads "we have to get out of here"

"Well done for stating the obvious" Tony snapped this was reminding him to much of Afghanistan, it was beginning to get to him

"Friends" Thor boomed "do not argue, it will get us nowhere"

"Thor's right, we need to figure this out calmly" Natasha instructed, her voice sounded tired, causing the others to look at her in concern. Everyone fell silent, the cold started numbing their fingertips, Natasha and Clint both began to fall asleep, but jolted awake when light poured in and guns were pointed at their faces

"Well good morning to you all" it was the same man as before "My name is Admon and we are all going to be spending lots of time together, and by the end of it you will be wishing you were dead" he smiled brightly showing sets of yellow teeth, "Let's begin"

**Review please…. **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Seriously thank you for the great response. Sorry for my lack of punctuation it isn't really my strong suit but I have tried to improve it **** Also heads up this story will make Natasha look quite weak, but I want the guys to be there for her and protect her, so she probably will be OOC! Please review, will be very much appreciated… **

"We have come to realise it would not be wise to try to physically torture the hulk, and it would waste too much time hurting the god and the soldier, but all that is physical, your torture is mental, watching your friends pleading for death" Admon said, his eyes were darting around like an excited child on Christmas. "Of course that means, the hawk, robot and spider, will all be receiving physical torture. But this will happen in due time, for now you rest…try not to freeze." He grinned sadistically; they all left then, their heavy footsteps thundering down the hall.

"Fuck!" Tony shouted, he jumped up and began pacing, they all knew about his history at Afghanistan so they let him do whatever he needed to keep relatively calm. Once he had sat down Clint muttered,

"Do you think Shield are out looking for us?" he was still holding Natasha who was visibly shaking from the cold. "I mean they must have noticed us gone."

"Even if they didn't Pepper would have" Tony said sadly, the thought he might never see Pepper again- no he shouldn't go there, instead he focused on the others.

"Right so they know we're gone, but how are they going to find us?" Bruce asked his voice showing traces of fear.

"Shield will find a way, they've always found me and Clint, admittedly it can take them a long time, but they always find us" Natasha said, her voice was calm but low.

"That was when Phil was there" Clint pointed out, Natasha buried her face in his shoulder, her voice was muffled but they all heard her,

"Then we're fucking screwed."

"Do not fret Lady Natasha, we have beaten my brother once before we can do it again" Thor said, his usually loud voice, was low and soothing. Natasha nodded,

"Yeah stay positive while we're being tortured. Easier said than done" Tony said sarcastically scowling at Thor. Natasha reached out and put a small hand on his, he gripped it tightly back and muttered "Sorry" to Thor who just nodded.

"Well, we're obviously somewhere cold" Steve said, he was resting his head on the wall, but they all knew he was ready to fight in a second

"There's no point trying to figure out where we are, because we can't go anywhere, we need to think of a way to contact Shield" Bruce said realistically, Natasha nodded while Clint said,

"We do need to worry about the cold, well Natasha, Bruce, Tony and me do" Clint and Natasha shared a look and she nodded.

"Ok" Clint said looking at her "My bed, my archery range and an English breakfast" his eyes were shining while Natasha grinned and said,

"Coffee, blankets and….chocolate" he laughed, the others looked at them strangely,

"Natasha did you hit your head?" Bruce said gently reaching out to check it

"No, well kind of yeah, but me and Clint have games we like to play when we've been captured, to help us stay sane, that one was the three things we are gonna get as soon as we get home" the others all smiled.

"A cheeseburger, alcohol and Pepper" Tony smiled fondly

"My lab, sleep and coffee" Bruce said grinning at Natasha who high fived him,

"The gym, food and sleep" Steve said wistfully,

"Jane, sleep and pop tarts" Thor's face split into a grin at the thought of his favourite food, everybody laughed. The mood had lightened slightly.

"What type of chocolate Natasha?" Tony asked his mouth watering at the thought.

"Any except dark, maybe Cadbury milk" she was smiling while Tony laughed.

"You know what we should do" Bruce said his eyes lighting up "We should get loads of Cadbury milk and melt it all and then drink it!" Everybody laughed then, but they all knew they were being serious and would do that straight away if they get the chance.

Silence returned all too soon, and Natasha shut her eyes leaning against Clint, he looked down at her, the others noticed the way he adjusted himself so she was more comfortable, the look of pain evident in his face, Natasha slipped into unconsciousness.

"So are you and Nat a thing?" Tony asked bluntly. Clint looked unsure on how to answer but eventually he said,

"Actually we've been married for six years…" everybody felt their jaws drop open,

"How did I not notice that?" Tony muttered shaking his head.

"How did any of us not notice that?" Bruce added still shocked. Steve turned back to Clint and said softly,

"This must be hard then" it shut the others up, it hadn't even occurred to them how painful this must be for Clint,

"It is, imagine if you had to hold Pepper, Jane, Peggy or Betty like this, and watch while they fall asleep and not being sure whether they'll wake up, and if they don't, you know that you'll follow them pretty soon because there is no way in hell you'll ever let them go alone" Clint said looking up to look at their reactions "It kills me that I can't protect her"

Steve thought about what Clint had said, what it would be like if that were him and Peggy, he was hit with a wave of remorse as he looked at the two assassins, he would be in pieces if that were him.

Bruce had given up Betty to keep her safe and the thought that he would ever have to hold her like that made Bruce want to hulk out, he didn't, but almost.

Thor knew if that was him and Jane, he would be screaming and trying to hit things, not providing the comfort she would need, he thought suddenly how bad he would be in a situation like that, nothing like Clint.

Tony almost cried at the thought of it being Pepper, he wouldn't be able to cope if it was, and he knew it. The thought killed him inside.

Clint saw their reactions and said softly

"It's not them or you though, and it won't be, ever" this didn't make the others feel better, they just looked at the two assassins and knew their bond or love or whatever you call it, is stronger than whatever could be thrown at them and they'll get through it, whether they come out on the other side alive or not was a different matter.

"Clint, you know we will do whatever we can to look after Natasha, she's our girl, you're not the only who will look out for her" Steve said softly, although the others didn't say anything Clint knew they would die for Natasha and she would for them.

**AVENGERS ASSEMBLE AVENGERS ASSEMBLE**

Natasha opened her eyes, she remembered where she was straight away, the cold of the room was trying to bite her but she was shielded by Clint, who looked down and kissed her forehead, he whispered

"They know we're married" she knew they would find out eventually so she just nodded and wriggled her way into a sitting position.

Before anybody could say anything the metal door slammed open, and a gun shot was fired. None of the avengers could react in time, they froze, but as soon as they heard Natasha's yelp of pain and saw Clint kneeling down by her holding pressure on her leg, they leapt into action creating a wall in front of her, vaguely aware of Natasha muttering

"Bastards"

"Take the woman and the soldier" Admon barked, his guards were met with a wall of resistance formed by the other avengers, but they knew it was only a matter of time before they got them, so Steve made the best of a bad situation. He turned around and gently, very gently, scooped Natasha into his arms and turned back around to face the guards.

"Fine carry her if you must, she will not be able to walk anyway" he said, a cruel smile appeared on his features "I promised we would have fun, little spider" although this sent shivers down the others spine, no-body understood why Tony reacted the way he did. He started yelling and swearing at Admon, he continued even as the guards hit him and Bruce pulled him back, it was like it triggered something.

Eventually Bruce got Tony to calm down and the guards left, his friend now bruised and bloodied but he didn't seem to care, he could only think about one thing, the way Admon had talked to Natasha earlier, his voice was filled with lust, Tony knew what would happen and he prayed he was wrong, but Tony Stark was never wrong. He was after all a genius.

**I would love it if you reviewed…please! **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Ok so to answer sv4me's question, Loki has cast a spell so Thor cannot summon his hammer and they're in to close a proximity of Bruce for him to just hulk out without hurting one of them, I completely made that up but it's the best I got **** Steve is very OOC so sorry about that to, please review! **

**Warning contains torture and mention of rape, but no real gory details**

Natasha tried to hold on to consciousness for Steve's sake not her own, for her it would be better if she slipped away into the emptiness, but she was strong, she was the Black Widow, and she would not leave Steve alone. She knew why their captors had chosen her, in their eyes she was the weak one, the one who needed protecting, but she didn't. From the young age of six she had been trained to deal with things, people, like this, it wasn't foreign to her; she knew how to handle it. The problem though was that the others didn't, well Clint did more or less, maybe Steve with the physical part but seeing a team mate in pain would break him, the others were the problem not her.

Steve placed her gently down on a cold metal table, she shut her eyes pretending to be scared and appear weak, this was meant to be a torture for Steve not for her, but of course no-one else would see it like that. Natasha knew they had pinned Steve down probably with chains and a few guns pointed to his head if they were smart, which she reckoned they were. She could hear him shouting and yelling and several thumps as they hit him as punishment, but they quickly realized that wouldn't work on Captain America so turned their attentions on her instead, Steve quickly shut up.

"Open your eyes you mewling quim" she heard a man snarl, it was not Admon, it was….Loki? "Yes it is I, Loki. Do not worry I do not plan on trying to take over your world, I do however plan on making you beg and scream for death, you will writhe in pain as your leader watches helpless, it makes me laugh really, the petty bonds you humans make to one another, it is nothing but weaknesses. Anyway I will not be inflicting your torture today so I must bid you farewell, good luck, spider, soldier you will need it" she heard his retreating footsteps. Thor was right she mused, Clint was right to, it was always Loki.

She watched as four men advanced on her, they placed a cloth over her mouth and nose and poured load after load of water on top of her, water boarding. It was never a pleasant experience for her but she knew how to handle it, she learnt how to at age twelve, wow she was fucked up she thought bitterly. Natasha tried not to panic as she slowly counted in her head, feeling her throat and lungs fill with water, she blocked the panic out, she heard Steve basically growling from his corner, she wished she could give him a sign she was ok, but that would be reckless, so she had to let him suffer.

The guards noticed she was not reacting the way a normal prisoner would, it was pissing them off. They decided to step it up, they used a cattle prod to send electric shocks throughout her body, and Natasha couldn't help it, she screamed from the pain. They threw more water over her to make the current feel worse, Steve was yelling and struggling but the more he did, the more they hurt her in the end he kept muttering,

"I'm so sorry Nat, I'm so sorry" honestly Natasha thought he sounded worse than she did, but he didn't feel worse. Natasha was wriggling and squirming trying to get away from them, the electric shock went through her whole body, deep into her bones. When they eventually stopped she felt herself losing consciousness but was hit back into reality as one of the men placed his foot on her earlier gun wound, she yelped and shouted but he just put more pressure on it. He laughed at her, but he took his foot off, he came close to her face and slowly opened her jaw.

"Hmmm, how about we take a few teeth out" he grinned sadistically, Steve had fallen silent, Natasha glanced over at him and seen him shaking his head with tears streaming down his face. The man instructed the other to "hold her mouth and make sure the bitch doesn't bite" he complied. Natasha gave up struggling and waited for the inevitable, she felt the pliers go into her mouth and clasp themselves on one of her back molars, he began to pull hard, but she didn't dare scream, not wanting to boost the pain. She felt the tooth pop out as blood flooded her mouth, chocking her. This was repeated once more.

"Don't worry we're almost done now, but our boss said before we let you go we could have our own bit of fun, what do you think about that?" Steve and Natasha both noted the lust in his eyes and knew what was going to happen, just as it then man began to take of his trousers and position himself in front of her, Natasha muttered through the blood and the pain

"Steve shut your eyes, please" the men too caught up in their arousal did not bother to get Steve to look, so he did what Natasha told him, and silently broke inside.

**AVENGERS ASSEMBLE AVENGERS ASSEMBLE **

Once the men had finished having their "fun" they allowed Steve to carry Natasha back, the whole time he mumbled

"I'm sorry Nat" and stroked her hair gently. As they reached their cell she whispered

"Steve the others and I, need you to be strong and be our Captain right now. This isn't your fault so don't think it is, but I need you here with me now, not imploding on yourself" Steve looked down at her and nodded, she was right he thought she needed him, they all did.

Natasha hid her face in Steve's chest attempting to ignore the searing pain mixed with cold and pure disgust swimming throughout her body. As soon as they were pushed inside the cell, Tony, Clint, Bruce and Thor were standing and advancing towards them slowly not sure what to expect, they did notice the tear tracks down Steve's face and the pail, lifeless body nearly unconscious in his arms. Thor tried to take Natasha, but suddenly Steve snapped punching Thor around the face, luckily though Clint had explained to the remaining avengers that Steve may behave like this and that they should just try and talk him down, calmly.

"Steve" Clint said softly "Natasha is hurt, we need to look after her we're on your side, we only want to look after you both" he reached out to take his wife; Steve hesitantly passed her to him. Clint immediately took her to the corner of the cell and slid to the ground

"How bad was it?" Bruce asked quietly as everyone took positions around them

"Water boarding, cattle prod a few beatings and-"Steve faltered, his voice shaking but he continued anyway "rape. I couldn't even stop them what kind of hero am I?" They just looked at each other while Tony muttered

"Come on Steve, you can do this later, right now we need to protect Nat" Tony barely contained the anger in his voice. Thor put a hand on Bruce's shoulder her was beginning to turn a disturbing shade of green.

"She's freezing" Clint muttered and they knew he literally meant the words. Thor pulled of the light jacket he had been wearing while Steve swiftly removed his top and slipped it gently over Natasha's head covering her badly ripped cat suit.

"Steve-"Bruce began but Steve interrupted him,

"I spent seventy years in ice, the cold doesn't really bother me anymore" they both turned their eyes to Natasha who mumbled.

"There are about eighty guards in total, but Loki is there as well, to get out you go left, right, right, third door and left again" Clint just kissed her forehead softly while she slipped back into sleep.

"How did-?" Thor began to ask, but Clint just raised his head and said,

"This isn't the first time we've been in a situation like this, you learn things on the way" the rest just stared at the assassins. Natasha was no longer shaking, Thors jacket and Steve's top keeping her warm, but that didn't stop the question thundering through their heads. How long did she really have left?

**Dark I know please review…. **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N Short chapter I know sorry, I wanted to show Natasha relationship with the guys, I know there isn't a lot of Clintasha in this one but there will be soon, bear with me. I'd love to hear your comments please review!**

When Natasha returned to consciousness the first thing that hit her was the pain, it was all over her body, it wasn't just the pain though, the memories came flooding back to her and she let out a strangled sob, refusing to open her eyes. She heard movement in the room and immediately tensed preparing herself for an attack, but none came instead she heard a calm soothing voice, Clint,

"Hey baby, I've got you, you're safe now" he kept repeating those words, but she just shook her head, keeping her eyes squeezed shut,

"We're not though are we Clint, we're still here, and we can't leave" she knew her voice sounded bad but Clint understood it enough. She felt someone else come and sit close to her providing her with more warmth it was Tony,

"Hey Natashalie, you look like shit" he said gently, but for some reason the cruel comment comforted her and she opened her eyes a little bit, Clint left her alone with Tony to go and talk to Bruce,

"I still look better than you" she managed to reply before shutting up, feeling a sharp pain spread through her mouth, oh right, the teeth she thought miserably, Tony noticed her expression and muttered,

"Don't worry Tasha I've got a great dentist, we can get you a lovely set of dentures" Clint threw a small pebble at the back of his head, while the others in the room shot him angry glares but Natasha just laughed, well it was more of a wheeze.

"Yeah I can hardly notice yours" he laughed this time, before stroking her hair soothingly.

"We have a plan Nat, thanks to what you remembered, we think we might be able to contact Shield and hopefully break out, but it might take some time, so you need to do us a favour and stay alive" again everybody in the room shot him dirty looks.

"I'll try my best" she mumbled wincing from the shot of pain that travelled through her leg. Tony noticed and smiled sadly at her,

"I can't lose my spider ok?" she knew that was probably one of the nicest things Stark would ever say to her, because it was the most genuine, Natasha nodded but felt guilty, knowing he probably would lose her, he seemed to know it to and shook his head sadly muttering,

"Bastards"

"Can you get Steve over here I want to talk to him" Natasha said quietly trying not to work her jaw too much she didn't want to taste anymore blood. Within a couple of minutes she was tucked into Steve's bare chest, it made her laugh how he still managed to radiate warmth.

Steve felt a heavy burden of guilt weighing on top of him, it was his fault this happened, he was Captain fucking America there were only four men, what was his problem. He looked down at Natasha who in turn seemed lost in thought, he knew she had saved him from a mental break down when she told him to turn away, he was weak so he listened and let his teammate suffer because of it. As if Natasha was reading his thoughts she stared up at him

"Please Steve, please for me don't blame yourself, because if you do I'll feel guilty and then I'll blame myself and then we'll all be fucked up- more so" she added as an afterthought. Admittedly the burden lifted slightly off Steve but remained pressing on his chest; because he knew he deserved it.

"How bad was it Nat?" he knew she wouldn't mind answering and he was genuinely curious.

"Bad but bearable I guess, when they chose me it was because they thought I was the weak one, the one that would give up easiest but they were wrong. Steve I've been trained to deal with things like that, it looked worse than it was" she was lying again, but she needed to make him feel better, he deserved it. He looked down at her and smiled gently before whispering,

"Natasha you are the bravest person I know" Natasha was about to respond when Bruce came over smiling apologetically

"Hi guys do you mind Steve? I need to check on Nat" he said gently

"Oh yeah sure, I'll talk to you soon Tash" he gently placed her in Bruce's soft arms and left to talk to Tony, well argue with Tony.

"How bad is it doc?" she asked grimacing as he pressed on some of the marks from the cattle prod, Bruce looked down at her "honestly tell me" he seemed to have an inner debate but eventually decided

"It's pretty bad; I suppose the pain will be the worst thing though. You didn't lose too much blood thank goodness but you have a lot of bad cuts and bruises"

"That doesn't sound too bad Bruce" she argued quietly as he finished checking her and settled down instead, her head resting on his shoulder,

"I'm more worried about the psychological damage, Natasha." She looked down to the floor and muttered,

"It's nothing I can't handle" but he carefully took her chin and turned her head to face him.

"I nearly hulked out you know, after I seen what they did, I can't believe I didn't actually" she smiled ruefully, he continued before she could speak "Tash I would do anything for you, you know that right?" she looked deeper into his eyes and whispered

"I know Bruce and I would for you to, _you_ know that right?" he smiled, it was an exhausted smile but it still managed to make Natasha feel better, he laughed and said

"Looks like its Thor's turn" she grinned but regretted it when her mouth protested in pain, she shut her eyes to block it out and when she opened them she was staring at Thors concerned face.

"Hello Lady Natasha" his usual loud booming voice was softer, quieter

"Hi Thor" she didn't have the energy to talk, the pain was getting worse and it was beginning to break her, she knew she needed a distraction "please, Thor tell me stories about your life, battles you've fought, your home, anything, please" she sounded so desperate Thor understood why. He positioned himself so she was comfortable and began his tales, his deep voice calmed her nerves and Natasha soon fell asleep.

Occasionally she would wake up shaking and scared but she felt his arms around her and relaxed into his chest, listening as he hummed to her and kissed her forehead, it wasn't Thor it was Clint, and she knew in his arms she was safe, for a while at least.

**REVIEW PLEASEEEE! **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N I want to apologise in advance for my terrible punctuation, I promise I am trying. Anyway so some good Natasha/Tony but this chapter focuses on Tony, please enjoy and review **** Oh and what would you think if I killed one of the characters off, I'm not sure which yet, any preferences? **

Tony was a strong person, some people, like Steve and Bruce, thought that he was really broken and that he hid behind his sarcastic comments and emotional detachment. He was a strong person though, he knew it deep inside himself, he did. So as he sat in the corner of the cell he shared with the other avengers, he couldn't place the feelings that were brewing inside of him. Sure he had felt, lonely and hurt before, but now as he rubbed his shins trying to circulate blood he felt confused. Confused in the sense that he didn't know where he was, he could see Steve and Thor both sleeping on either side of the door, Bruce in the corner opposite him and Clint and Natasha curled up together, yet his thoughts travelled back to Afghanistan.

He was wandering down a dark path and he knew it, but whenever he tried to turn around and claw his way back, he couldn't and he didn't know why. Yinsen dragged himself into his head and he was all Tony could see, he felt a burning in his lungs, his chest constricted and his breathing became erratic. He absentmindedly thought whether this would be where Tony Stark would die, either in a cell with the avengers or in a cell in Afghanistan, he couldn't tell anymore. He shut his eyes hard, he knew soon he would be rendered unconscious, and he waited for the blackness.

It never came instead he felt someone's hand cupping his chin gently, he heard a calm voice instructing him

"Breathe Tony, come on with me" it was Natasha; she grabbed his hand and placed it on her chest so he could feel her breathing "follow my rhythm. Inhale. Exhale." He copied her movements, slowly, he soon returned to normal. No, normal was the wrong word, he could still only picture Yinsen but at least he could breathe again. Then again that wasn't necessarily a good thing.

He opened his eyes and saw Natasha and Clint kneeling next to him, one of Clint's hands resting on her back supporting her; she looked like she needed it. Something snapped inside of him and he could no longer see the two assassins he could only see two of his torturers from Afghanistan. Acting on pure instinct and adrenaline he propelled his fist forward, he flung his leg swiftly underneath their legs, he blinked again and could suddenly see them both, Natasha and Clint that is.

Natasha had been pushed behind Clint and Thor who had joined the scuffle. Clint was holding Tony's fist and had placed the heel of his foot on Tony's leg to keep him in place. Tony managed to stutter out

"I…I'm sorry" Steve and Bruce were watching as well now. No-one was really sure what was happening to him except Natasha, they had talked about his experiences when they had alcohol and were exhausted late one night. His glazed eyes travelled to her small form, she gave him a soft look and he knew she understood, so he nodded his head, bobbing it jerkily. She sighed gently and just said, her voice was firm, it latched onto his mind, anchoring him

"Get a grip Tony, you are not in Afghanistan." He shuddered but still she carried on regardless "Listen to me you bastard, you are not in Afghanistan so get your head out your ass and fucking calm down" the others just stared at her, shocked that she would say something like that especially at a time like this. They hadn't expected Tony's reaction,

"You're a fucking bitch Romanoff! You don't understand what it was like for me in that cave, it was hell my own real live hell, so don't tell me to calm down, got it!" he took four strides towards her but stopped half way, when Clint put a hand on his chest. God knows how but Natasha managed to find the energy to push him aside and snarl,

"Get over yourself Stark, you are a pathetic excuse for a human being, you hide behind your armour because you can't face the truth. You are weak" he growled a deep menacing growl and stepped towards her, although the remaining avengers wanted to step in they knew better than to ignore Natasha's commands, Tony pressed himself right up against her, his face contorted in anger, before anyone could react he raised his arms and wrapped her little body against his larger one. Everyone froze, they had expected harsh words maybe a jab to the chest, but a hug. Maybe he had gone insane.

Natasha though looked like she had expected this, she wasn't really a "cuddly" person but she made allowances for certain times and certain people, this was one of those times. They stayed there for a while, the other avengers going to sit down and continue with whatever they had been doing before, so sleeping, leaving Tony and Natasha to themselves. He only thought to move when he felt Natasha's legs buckle slightly and her leaning her weight into him. They slid to the floor, neither with the energy to walk. Natasha whispered

"Tony don't do this now, I promise you when we get back to New York me and you can go out drinking, yeah? Get completely sloshed, you can let it out then but right now, you've gotta wait just like am and Steve and Clint" he looked down at her. The thought of alcohol right now, made his heart beat harder

"Ok Nat, sorry by the way" she just shrugged

"No need to be" it was left alone then, no-body brought it back up. Tony still had the same feelings he had before but now he had hidden them, no hidden is the wrong word. Buried them, he had buried them so he can dig them up later when he had time, people would say that this was unhealthy but they were wrong, just like when they said Tony Stark wasn't strong, on the contrary Tony was very strong. The thing about Tony is that he is broken, but that doesn't make him weak. Or maybe he just doesn't show it.

**AVENGERS ASSEMBLE AVENGERS ASSEMBLE **

It had been a long couple of hours since Tony's little meltdown, everyone was acting normally again. Tony was making sarcastic comments here and there, Clint and Thor were both pacing, Bruce was having a calming conversation with Natasha who was looking worse by the second, and Steve who was stubbing he toe against the wall with his head on his arm.

The avengers knew that within the next few hours one of two things wold happen, either, Shield would come and break them out, or, they wouldn't and Natasha would die and Tony, Steve and Clint would all go insane, Bruce would hulk out and kill them all while Thor stared in shock. They all really hoped it was the first one. Nonetheless none of them gave up; they had learnt more about each other over the past few days than they ever could have back home in the tower. They learnt that…

Steve named each of the punching bags he used, which did seem a bit sadistic but it made them laugh anyway. They also learnt his favourite colour was yellow, Tony had practically had a heart attack at that, it was strange though. And no matter what anyone said to him plain vanilla ice cream would always be his favourite flavour.

Thor always wanted to go and visit Paris, Bruce suggested going there with Jane when they got out of this, and they also learnt that his second favourite midigardian food except pop tarts were marshmellows, no-body disagreed.

Bruce loved Harry Potter, he didn't just like it, he loved it. Whenever he thought he was about to hulk out he would run to get the books or films, only to nearly hulk out again when voldermort tries to kill Harry. It was an endless pointless circle that could go on for hours he had told them.

Clint cried whenever he watched romantic films, every time, even if it was a comedy. Nothing more needed to be said on that topic.

Natasha hated the cold; she complained it was always cold in the tower and if Tony didn't finally use the heating she would hurt him until he did, he promised he would. They also found out that she had a fear of spiders, which was strange consider she named herself after one. One of the nights before she had been sitting with Thor, they were naturally chatting until she screamed and launched herself holding onto his back, of course everyone else reacted instantly and when they asked her what was wrong, she pointed to a hairy spider scuttling across the floor, after they had killed it and started laughing, Natasha threatened to castrate them, they shut up. Quickly.

Tony they discovered would not under any circumstances drink wine, Natasha agreed with him, she said it made him look gay, so Bruce, Thor, Steve and Clint all manly agreed but they secretly reminded themselves to hide the wine they had stored in his fridge.

Yes, the avengers were no longer a team, they were a family. A dysfunctional fucked up family, but really what family isn't in their own little ways. Then again not many families had a demi-god, a hulk, a super soldier, an iron man and two master assassins, still, they fitted together like a jigsaw, but if one of the pieces ever went missing, the picture would never be complete.

**Please review… **


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N I am evil, I haven't decided if anyone is going to die yet, this is the build-up to the final fight/battle thingy. Some good old Clintasha and each of the guys being sweet to Natasha, so please please review they really do mean a lot! **

It had been another day or so, since Tony's breakdown, Natasha looked….bad, really bad. In fact she looked so bad it had gotten to the point where the guys were constantly trying to keep her awake because if she shut her eyes they were worried she wouldn't open them again. Then again none of the others were holding up particularly well either, Tony and Steve were near breaking point, that much was obvious, Bruce seemed twitchy and a little green, Thor was agitated and continuously pacing while Clint was secretly freaking out about Natasha.

When she woke up, he was of course straight next to her; as soon as she spoke he knew she was losing her fight.

"Clint it's really cold" there was a double meaning to those words and they both knew it, everybody else was still asleep so Clint decided to make the most of the peace. He cuddled in closer to her, keeping her warm,

"Nat, I need you here, please don't leave me" that's when Natasha realised Clint was in as much pain as she was, as he tucked himself next to her, he reminded her of a little child scared of something under his bed and running to his mother for comfort and protection. But both assassins knew Natasha wouldn't be able to protect Clint from death, and vice versa.

For them, death was a constant companion, always there but never close enough to touch, it seemed to gravitate towards the two avengers more than anyone else, death liked to pick on Natasha and Clint. He would taunt them, string them along but before he could grab them he would drop them back down to life, with a thump. Sometimes they would struggle, but there were times, not many, but they had happened, when either, or both, assassins just shut their eyes and let death take them, he never had. But now as Natasha shivered in his arms, Clint knew death was playing his final cards, and expected to win.

Tears were slowly falling down his face, he wasn't aware of them until he tasted the salt slip into his mouth, they were painfully slow each drop either tipping into his lips or off his chin into Natasha's fiery hair. He peered down at her face, he took in each detail. Her lips curved and plump a delicate mix of pink and red, both contrasting with her skin and matching her hair, to a degree anyway. Her small dainty nose, slightly pointed but not in a stern way, more of a rounded warning way. Her ears were cold, Clint noted, as he rubbed from them top to the bottom, the new gash in her hairline it wasn't very noticeable a part from the trail of blood it was leaving.

Natasha's eyes fluttered open, she wanted so badly to keep them shut but there was something she had to do first, she looked up at Clint, taking in each detail of his face. His rough but rounded lips that had never failed to make her smile, or cry or just show emotion. His bigger nose that after a nightmare she would always nuzzle and kiss the tip of, his ears were normal, except for the small dent in the left one just at the top, she always loved that little dent. Tears trickled from her eyes; she didn't bother brushing them away.

"Clint" she whispered despite her scratchy, dry throat her voice came out soft and careful, he cupped the bottom of her chin with his firm rough hand, she couldn't get distracted she needed to say this "I love you, you know I do, all those years ago when you saved my life, I always thought I stuck around you because I owed you a debt, but it wasn't that it was that I couldn't be away from you. I didn't know why, but now I do, I can't be away from you because as far as I'm concerned you are half of me, the better half" she smiled sadly, he knew why she was saying this, in case she didn't keep her heart beating.

"Nat" his voice choked up, way to be a man he thought bitterly "You know I will always love you and from the second I saw you, you had me tangled in your web, but I had no intention of getting out, I've made a nice little home for myself in that web, it's the hawks nest" he didn't need to say anything else, this prompted Natasha to ask him a question she had been thinking about a lot recently.

"Do you think I'll go to hell when I die? I mean honestly, because I think I will" she looked scared at the prospect of that, he just thought for a moment before saying,

"No, but it doesn't matter if you do. Nat we're a half and a half, so separate were not that much but together we can pass as something remotely good, and wherever you go I'll follow you anyway, so if you do end up in hell your hawks gonna be right beside ya the whole time" he thought that might make her smile but instead she made a weird choke/cry sound. She spluttered out

"No Clint, you…can't…I won't let you, please don't, look, follow me if you have to, but not until you have lived your fucking life, all of it" he just looked back at her his eyes focused solely on her

"How can half a person live a life without the other half Nat?" she shrugged and just rested her head on his chest and whispered so softly her almost didn't hear it,

"Find another half" now Clint was angry, his voice shook as he said roughly,

"Doesn't work like that, you're my other half and I'm yours nobody else's" she just nodded her head slowly, because he was right of course. If Clint were the one dying she would never choose anyone else because she just couldn't, and she knew he was the same.

**AVENGERS ASSEMBLE AVENGERS ASSEMBLE**

They weren't too sure when it happened but Bruce suddenly yelled,

"Natasha!" she didn't move, he scrambled over, Steve, Thor and Tony quickly followed stumbling over their feet. Bruce pressed a hand to her neck and began shaking, of course the others feared the worst but he just muttered,

"She's not dead, but her pulse is so low I can't feel it, we need to get help now!" everyone exchanged looks and they glanced down at the archer who nodded firmly, but his voice came out tired and low.

"Guys, she can hear you, you might want to say your goodbyes" Tony was about to argue but he realised the archer knew Natasha better than anyone else so if he said that, then that was the right thing to do, he went first, obviously,

"Natashalie, I'm not good with this type of shit but I will say one thing, you promised me a drink, and I am fucking going to get it" he gripped her hand a whispered something in her ear that no-one else heard

"I love you Nat, please don't leave, I need you" he promptly stood up and began analysing the room. Thor decided to go next

"You are braver than any warrior on Asgard Lady Natasha, braver than myself, maybe one day I could take you there, you would fit in well, you'd be smaller than everyone else but we both know you could beat them in a fight, keep fighting, you always win" he smiled a sad smile and went to join Tony. Bruce stepped forward,

"Tasha you need to stay alive for me, because I will destroy fucking New York if you don't; besides I need someone to keep me sane around the tower, and to share tea with. I guess I never realised how much I relied on you, but now I know and you can't leave me yet" she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, he joined the other two. Steve pressed a kiss to her forehead and whispered gently,

"While we've been in this cave I learnt you're an amazing dancer, and Nat I need a dance partner, Peggy was meant to be mine but we never got a chance, come on give me a chance. Plus you know if you do die, I will never forgive myself, ever, I love you too much for that" he stood sharply and turned towards the guys "how are we going to do this?"

Thor turned to face him and said,

"Loki is very aware of our predicament, he will be here with guards very shortly I propose we fight, and if we die at least we die as warriors" everyone agreed, just maybe not as enthusiastically.

**Please review? **


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N Hiya so I'm having doubts on whether this story is actually any good or not, so please let me know what you think, if you think it's bad I won't be offended, but please don't be too mean. Couldn't resist writing a chapter like this, mainly Natasha, no big fights yet accept Natasha's, will she live or not? Please review! **

Natasha could feel her heart thumping, the beats were spaced out, sometimes in the gap in between them she wondered if her heart had stopped, it hadn't, yet. But this was death playing her like it always did; Natasha was the one who manipulated people, but death manipulated her. She had heard the guys say their goodbyes; it had spurred her to carry on fighting, because she _could_ just give up, and that would be that, but they expected her to fight so she was going to.

It gave her a chance to reflect on her relationship with each of the guys, she remembered certain events when they had been more than friends, more like family.

**Steve**

Steve had always considered his and Natasha's relationship to be like an older brother and younger sister, he realised this but she didn't, that is until the bar incident. Natasha had agreed to go out to a bar with him, because he was frankly scared to go with Tony, it wasn't really Bruce's scene; Thor didn't understand them anymore than he did and Clint was away on a mission., besides he thought it would be a good chance for them to bond. It had certainly worked, as soon as they walked in all the eyes swivelled towards them, nobody recognised them but both Natasha and Steve were very good looking people, they caught everybody's attention. Within an hour or two it was clear to both Natasha and Steve that they would become very good friends; both understood boundaries and respected each other's. So when a group of about four drunken men stumbled over to Natasha and began trying to grope her, Steve was pissed. Natasha was much calmer than he was, firmly pushing their hands away with a hard,

"No" but they didn't get the message, of course Steve knew Natasha could handle herself but that didn't mean he wouldn't protect her, before she could move he was already standing to his full height and staring each of the men down, seemingly at the same time.

"I believe she said no" he growled placing a hand on the closet's chest, pushing him back. The others seemed to be debating whether they could win a fight against him, but seeing the look of outrage on his face and the size of him, they decided to back away. Natasha stood up next to him and said gently,

"Let's go home" they walked in a comfortable silence, and when they reached their floor in avengers tower, Steve was about to head to his room Natasha pulled him into a hug, her small arms wrapping around his large waist, he held back onto her. As she let go he heard her mumble,

"Thanks Steve, I'm glad you dealt with them" that was when Steve realised Natasha may be an assassin but she was still a lady, and occasionally ladies liked to be protected.

**Tony **

Tony and Natasha were similar in so many ways, they both covered up their emotions with either sarcasm or threats, that's why Tony noticed when Natasha wasn't sleeping, after all he did the same thing, he had to give her credit though, she was good at hiding it.

He was pulling one of his "stay up for 72 hours straight stunts" when he heard muffled noises coming from the gym, he naturally went to investigate. When he reached the room he heard the soft classical music floating down from the ceiling "Swan Lake" he thought it was called. But that wasn't what shocked him, it was the grace and litheness she swirled and twirled in. He had not expected Natasha to ever look like this, of course he knew being agile was a part of her job, but when she danced she looked so…soft almost vulnerable, and Tony got a sudden wave of wanting to make her happy again, because he could tell by the way her feet landed on the floor it was painful and upset her. He knew what to do.

It had been a week since he had seen Natasha dance and his project was finally completed. One night when everybody else was asleep, Tony went in search of Natasha and brought her down to one of the empty floors.

"Tony what's going-?" the question died on her lips when he unlocked the door, it opened and revealed a brand new dance studio. The floor was a laminate wood, mirrors lined two of the four walls, it was a massive space, but to keep it homely Tony had added fairly lights dancing across the walls, the lights could be dimmed to give a warm comforting sensation, it had a built in stereo with stacks of music placed next to it, Natasha turned to face Tony.

"My god, I can't believe…how did you know?" he smiled and tapped his nose,

"Oh and its sound-proof so play the music as loud as you like" she just smiled, it was a genuine happy smile, she gave him a quick hug, before he darted off to let her enjoy her sanctuary in peace. The next night Tony wondered past the studio and saw Natasha leaping along, a look of pure bliss and comfort on her face, and really, for Tony that was thanks enough.

**Bruce **

Bruce often found himself wanting to tear his hair out while living at avengers tower, and for him, well that wasn't a good thing. So when he found solace in a place, rather, person he was very grateful, even though that person knew how to kill him in ten different ways using a spoon.

He had discovered Natasha's calming attitude when everybody else was off doing whatever the hell they do, and Bruce found himself appreciating the peace while it was there. When he walked into the living room and saw Natasha lying on the couch, empty cup of tea next to her and reading a book, he considered leaving again, he didn't want to disturb her, before he could though Natasha interrupted his thoughts.

"You could always come and relax with me Bruce; I'm not like the others" he knew she was right, and already felt himself gravitating towards the calming atmosphere,

"Sounds good, do you want some more tea?" he asked picking up her mug, she nodded smiling slightly. Once he had brought the drinks back, he picked up his book and both read in a very comfortable silence until Tony and Clint burst through the door arguing. Natasha noticed the look of devastation on Bruce's face when the quiet had vanished, so Natasha decided to let him relax longer.

"Clint, Tony" she said her voice lower than theirs, but they still heard her both froze and turned to face her, looking somewhat nervous "can you please take this argument somewhere else because me and Bruce are trying to relax and you're ruining it" they stared at her for a moment before Clint muttered.

"Sorry Nat, sorry Bruce" he sounded like a small child who was forced to apologise, Tony just grimaced and muttered,

"It's my tower…" that was a mistake, before anyone could react Tony was running away, shouting "please don't kill me scary Russian assassin" Natasha just chuckled as Clint left, quieter than Tony, Bruce grinned at her appreciatively, in return she just leant against his shoulder and sipped her tea. Both feeling thoroughly relaxed.

**Thor **

Thor had proven himself very helpful to Natasha when she was angry, upset or any conflicting emotion. She had realised this one night after a particularly hard mission she and Clint had been sent on, upon which several innocent people had died, everyone left her well alone, Clint as well. At first they had tried to talk to her but before than a couple of words in Natasha gave them such a look they shut up.

She had been hitting the punching bag for; well actually she had lost track of time a long while ago. He had come up behind her, his footsteps echoing off the hard floor, he placed a big hand over both of her little ones. He held them in place so she couldn't use them, he simply said,

"You could use a real sparring partner" before she could say anything back he had pushed her to the floor and tried to pin her down, but a spider was not anything if not hard to catch. They had continued this for a long time, until he had managed to clasp her hands together with one of hers while practically sitting on her, his weight was enough to keep her down; both were out of breath, and smiling.

"You are an extremely good fighter Lady Natasha" she just laughed, "We should continue these sessions, although your strength is no match to mine, your agility far passes anything I could ever do" she smiled as she wriggled out from under him.

"We should do this again, and maybe next time I won't go easy on you" Thor stood there dumbfounded as she sauntered pat him and out the door, a smirk still invading her mouth. I really shouldn't underestimate her he thought as he turned to follow her, but she seemed to have disappeared from sight.

**Clint **

Natasha dreamt of her past, not just the murders she committed but the people that had hurt her, she was confused and the last thing she wanted was to touch someone, so when she realised she was sharing a bed with Clint she panicked and jumped up.

Clint was used to these sorts of happenings in the middle of the night, sometimes Natasha would curl into him and he would wrap his arms around her, keeping her sheltered from the world. But occasionally when she dreamt of certain things that had happened to her in the past she couldn't stand to have any form of physical contact. This was one of those times. He rose carefully and slowly.

"Nat I'm going to go into my other bedroom, you stay here" he could tell by the fear in her eyes that she didn't want him to leave but did at the same time. So he gently grabbed his hoodie from the chair and handed it to her making sure not to touch her skin, it was a piece of him, it relaxed her.

Natasha climbed back into the bed after Clint had left, his hoodie wrapped around her shoulders, she hated the fact he wasn't in the bed with her, but she knew he was there, because he was always there watching her back. Which is why she murmured,

"Goodnight my hawk, I love you" to the ceiling, she smiled as she heard,

"I'm looking out for you my spider, I love you too" Clint settled into the air ducts above Natasha's room, watching her small form, he didn't sleep that night just sat up and guarded Natasha like he said he would. Natasha was untouchable that night.

**AVENGERS ASSEMBLE AVENGERS ASSEMBLE **

After remembering all of that, Natasha knew what she had to do. She willed the feeling of sleep down, death would not play with her anymore, she knew she had no real choice over when she would die, but she was damn well determined it wouldn't be toady.

Death was a bitch, but Natasha could be bitchier. For her, it all came down to her perspective on death. If she believed and had enough will power to brush it aside for now, at least, then she would open her eyes and keep her heart beating. That was all she had to do, she gathered her thoughts, they remained mainly on her new family and of course hawks, she focused on her pulse and the rise and fall of her chest, she counted to three and opened her eyes. She had outplayed death again. Yeah Natasha could be a right bitch.

**Please review, it would mean a lot…..**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N Thank you all so much for the reviews, they really inspire me to write, more build up to the final battle, enjoy and please do review…. **

The door slammed open, the pure force it hit the wall with made the stone crack, none of the avengers flinched. Thor and Steve stood in the front directly facing the enemy, Bruce and Tony flanking them standing protectively in front of Natasha who was being held by Clint, it was obvious by their faces they weren't going down without a fight.

"Well, I must say it has taken you all a long time to actually try and get out" Loki commented casually as if they had just met up for coffee, "I should let you know Shield is on their way, but once they get here all they will fight is the discarded remains of six very damaged people" none of them even batted an eyelash.

This annoyed Loki, they were meant to fear him, to try and repent, beg him to except them onto his side, but no, instead they acted defiant as if asking for death, this was something Loki would readily give them, granted, he made them suffer first. He believed he had done that though, Iron Man, Captain America and Hawkeye were already mentally damaged and that spider well actually she had surprised him, she handled her torture well, but now seemed on the verge of death. The hulk man would be broken once all his friends were killed and lastly Thor. Loki had no plans on killing Thor yet, no, he wanted to do that somewhere else for as long as he could, and he just didn't have the time or facilities to do that here. Thor would pay.

"Brother-"Thor began but was cut off by a fuming Loki,

"Do you never learn!" he shouted "listen carefully, I am not your brother, nor was I ever or ever will be again, you are as good to me as dead, son of Odin" before anyone else could say anything Tony butted in.

"You know it is obvious you just have some daddy issues, but stop getting us caught up in your shit, because this does not involve us at all" he was shouting now, tempers were flaring and everybody was itching to fight. Natasha chose that moment to open her eyes, the relief that passed through the men, except Loki, was visible. She didn't seem that clear on what was going on, and frankly, she didn't want to know, she hid her face in Clint's chest honestly her fight with death had taken a lot out of her, she gripped Bruce's trembling hand, he was turning a dangerous shade of green.

"So" Steve began his voice sounding the most stable "what happens now, are we expected to fight?" Loki looked at the soldier for a minute before scowling,

"You will never win, yes, fight all you want you will all be dead within an hour" Loki left then the swarm of guards following him, leaving the avengers standing in their small cell, looking slightly pathetic.

**AVENGERS ASSEMBLE AVENGERS ASSEMBLE **

"Bruce you need to hulk out" Tony insisted gripping his "science bros" arm. As soon as he said it Steve glared at him,

"Tony you know he could very easily turn on us and we really would be dead men, if that happens" Bruce nodded sheepishly, Tony scowled he dropped it for now but was obviously not done with it.

"Thor remind me again, why you can't call your hammer" Clint asked he sounded tired, but pissed, Natasha was resting against his shoulder, some colour had returned to her face but it was plain that if she didn't get help fairly soon she probably wouldn't make it.

"Loki has put a spell on my weapon, I can still pick it up but I have to be touching it, I cannot summon it, and he has hidden it somewhere in this complex cave system." Everyone nodded knowing that had to be Thor's first job.

"Well I'm clearly not going to be much help in a fight, but they have a storage space with weapons, like they have a few timed bombs if I collected a couple of those while you guys are fighting I could place them in main structure points and blow the place up" Natasha said, they all agreed quickly knowing even hurt like that Natasha was ten times more agile and harder to spot than any of them.

"The rest of us will just try and keep the fighting located around us, so Nat and Thor can slip off unnoticed, do we have anyway of communication" none of them had thought of that.

"Slight problem then" Tony commented dryly. Clint shook his head,

"We've all fought without communication before, we can do this" he sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than anybody else. They all shared unsure glances; they knew that it was most likely under half of them, if any, would survive this fight.

Thor felt he should take responsibility for Loki's actions he was his brother after all, well in his mind anyway. He didn't care what Loki said, he knew that deep down Loki was just upset and confused as to why he had been lied to for so long, he felt abandoned and had rather unfortunately formed a grudge against the rest of the team.

Bruce was trying to keep calm, if worst came to worse he could hulk out, but that was a last minute option, he could only try that if his friends were literally about to be killed, then he would risk it, because there wasn't a better alternative. But that didn't mean he wanted to.

Steve knew he had to be the leader; he had to keep his team as safe as he could, keep them optimistic, but this wasn't war. This wasn't what he was trained for, this was his friends, this was his family at stake and he hated seeing them in so much danger, danger none of them would probably live through.

Tony didn't really give a shit by now, he just wanted to fight if he died he died, he would miss Pepper that would be one of the main things, and of course he wanted to protect the others, and he would with his life, because he didn't care if he lived or died, although the second option seemed more likely.

Clint silently vowed to himself that he would find each one of Natasha's capturers and kill each one personally, the other already knew this and accepted it, he may not have been able to protect his spider then, but he damn well will avenge her.

Natasha laughed silently, she had nothing to worry about, if she died then in a strange way it would be a relief and she wouldn't be separated from Clint because she just couldn't. If she lived then great another battle survived, but she didn't pin her hopes on the last one.

The avengers stood together as a family, guarding each other's backs, at least if they did die right here, right now, they would die fighting with the people that mattered most to them, and in no circumstances were they about to give up, no, they would fight, or at least die trying.

**Please, please review! **


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N Helloooo, so there is some fighting in this chapter, but more to come. Thank you to everyone who reviewed or followed/favourite, please review it makes me wanna write more, and I really do appreciate it, not much Thor in this chapter, let me know if you want more. **

Gun shots pelted into the dark cell, the avengers hid behind the walls and doors. They knew that Pepper had sent Tony's suit to his location and it would arrive very soon this would benefit the immensely, unfortunately Loki knew this too and had decided to attack while they were weaker. So Steve had ordered himself and Clint to keep the fighting centred on them, Bruce to stay as hidden as he could and try to keep calm, the hulk was their back up plan. Thor and Natasha would sneak out, Thor to retrieve his hammer and Steve's shield while Natasha would grab some timed bombs and place them around so she could blow up the compound.

The gun fire stopped and the avengers took this as their opportunity to fight, or hide depending on who they were. Clint and Steve were at the front and immediately started taking down man after man, Clint wrestled a gun out a man's hand and threw it to Tony so he could be their "back-up" he did the same with Bruce but mainly for his protection, not to fight. Thor and Natasha managed to sneak away with very few guards noticing, the ones that did notice Thor quickly, and for him, quietly took care of.

They came to two corridors; one went right and the other went left,

"The weaponry room's on the left, but I doubt they would hide your hammer near it, it's probably by Loki's office which is right" Thor faced her, pain evident on his face, of course he wanted to stay with her and protect his teammate, but right now that wasn't his job and he knew it. The others were relying on him, but he did make a silent promise to himself, if any of those guards hurt her he would personally find them and kill them, painfully. He was shocked at the bloodlust in his thoughts, but it was probably just adrenaline.

"Ok, stay safe Natasha" she nodded quickly squeezing his hand, to reassure him or herself he wasn't sure. With that they turned their backs on each other and went down their separate corridors.

They should have stuck together.

Clint flipped another man over his shoulder, and then proceeded to swipe his foot under the legs of another, he was aware of rapid uneven bullets being fired right behind him, probably Tony or Bruce. He hoped they were ok, but he couldn't really turn to help them without being shot in the back. His thoughts went back to Natasha; he prayed she was safe, or at least alive. He didn't care what happened to him or the other guys, because he knew if she died none of them would be able to forgive themselves, she was their girl, and they all wanted her safe. In retrospect they shouldn't have sent her off alone.

Steve tried to keep Tony and Bruce safe, knowing that without his suit Tony wouldn't be that much help, he wasn't as worried for Bruce's health as Tony's and his own, but he didn't want the other guy joining the fun. There were a lot of guards and the majority had guns, there were the occasional few that only had a knife or something less. He tried to keep an eye on Clint but he just couldn't, he had to trust Clint's capability and protect the weaker members of the team now instead.

Bruce tried to stay as concealed as possible, feeling the heavy metal gun in his hands didn't help, he didn't care if he killed people now or not, because if he didn't, they would kill one of his teammates and he wouldn't let that happen, he would rather hulk out. He was shaking slightly and as he took a glance down at his hands he noticed an unnerving shade of green. Well, if they didn't want him to hulk out and kill them all, they shouldn't really shoot at him. It was logic really.

Tony was counting the seconds, he couldn't help but think how slow his suit was being, he would definitely fix that when he got home…_if_ he got home. He heard the shouts and screams of men further down the compound, he also the crashing of a wall, he was suddenly aware of the wall right next to him exploding and sending chunks of rock flying in every direction, a couple hit him but no-where serious. Besides he didn't have time to be injured now, his suit was here, the party had just started.

Natasha prowled down the left corridor, her steps were silent, like a cat she was stealthy and deadly, admittedly maybe not _as_ deadly in her physical state now, but she could still probably protect herself, more or less. She heard footsteps head her way, and she flattened herself against the wall, seemingly melting into the shadows, the men came around the corner and slowed down, they obviously knew she was there. Before they could turn around she kicked one in the back of the head, as he went down she used his back as a spring, and flung herself into the other two, twisting one of their necks with her arms, and kicking the other one in their temple. Both crumpled quickly without much noise.

She continued on her way finding the door to the weaponry, she entered and soon spotted several guards patrolling around. As she crouched down she was suddenly felt the complete exhaustion that attacked her, the pain was worse now, her bones were still tingling unpleasantly from the cattle rod and she was having trouble breathing still from the water pooling in her lungs, she slid down against the wall. Very aware of the fact that if she shut her eyes she wouldn't be able to wake up for a long time, if not ever,

"Shit…shit shit shit" Natasha mumbled over and over struggling to stay awake, she had to help her team they were counting on her. She rose, her legs shaking violently. She wasn't aware that she had shouted a little in pain when she had stood up, but realised it as soon as she heard the gun shots being fired at her, she scrambled to the nearest crate and hid behind it. They stopped shooting and Natasha knew the men were approaching her; she had no weapons and was on the verge of death. Then again she was the Black Widow and they were poisonous.

One of the men flung himself around the crate to face the avenger, but he couldn't see her, before he could say anything he was onto the floor, his gun out of his hand and the woman he had been stalking standing above him, but she looked in pain, he almost felt sorry for her, almost. The other guards came at her then shooting and blindly attacking, it was obvious they were no real competition for her and soon they were all on the ground as well.

Natasha shuddered and fell down unable to breathe. She remembered the gunshot wound in her leg, she had successfully ignored it until now, but the pain was back with vengeance. She just wanted to shut her eyes, she felt the need to cough and when she did, blood came out, she was soon choking on her own blood, her body shaking from the cold and pain, mingling together to create the perfect recipe to die. She couldn't even muster the energy to sit up to stop her pitiful choking, the red was spilling out her mouth and leg, her bones lacking any strength and just tingling but it was hurting her, she wanted to die.

Fuck her team she thought sadly. They weren't tortured, she shouldn't have to feel guilty about dying but of course she did, at times like these she regretted Clint giving her her conscience back. Ok so maybe she was lying, of course she didn't want to die especially because as much as she would never say it out loud she had found a family, friends, and people to protect and defend her. She had let them in and now she lay choking on her own blood, still alone. Ironic really, maybe this was punishment for everything she did, or maybe the Black Widow was meant to work alone, therefore die alone. But she wasn't just the Black Widow anymore, now she was Natasha Romanoff. Yet still alone, she deserved it.

Just as black began to finally welcome her, she was aware of someone shouting her name, gently but firmly pulling her up.

"Natasha" the voice said, it was deep, she tried to focus on their face but couldn't, she was too busy coughing blood. The person held her up and rubbed her back soothingly, the worst of the coughing stopped she focused her eyes on the person. It wasn't person, but people, Bruce and Clint. Both looked like they were in as much pain as she was, she quickly scanned them for injures but found none, and then realised they had just watched her choke and cough up lots of blood, while writhing in pain, they were in pain from watching her.

"Baby we're gonna get you out of here, Tony's got his suit" Clint was lifting her so gently, Bruce stood protectively in front, which Natasha thought was a bit stupid seeing as he couldn't fight, Bruce noticed her expression and softly said,

"If anyone comes near you I'm going to hulk out, I promise no-one will get to you" she tried to smile but didn't have the energy, her head lolled back before Clint caught it in his shoulder, he was about to tell her to stay awake but before he could, Tony flew down carrying a very awkward looking Steve,

"Hey little red" the metallic voice covered Tony's, but she could still hear hints of it "stay awake for us, you don't wanna miss us kicking their asses" in reply she just kept her eyes open, as best she could anyone. Thor ran up next, seething, he was furious, Natasha realised with shock they all were, she was just too tired to notice it. They were angry at….her? No, at the people that did this to her.

As Clint held her to his chest mumbling soft words of encouragement, Thor stood behind her ready to jump in front of her if need be, Steve and Tony on the other side their positions protective and Bruce next to him, clearly ready to let the other guy lose if anyone threatened her.

Suddenly Natasha wasn't so alone.

**Please review, please please please! Come on guys I would love to reach three digit reviews soon! **


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N THIS IS IMPORTANT PLEASE READ, I' seriously struggling to decide where to take this story next please, please if you have any ideas or any plots you want to happen next then tell me. Very much appreciated! Come on guys I know we can get to triple digit reviews, WOOO! Keep the reviews coming!**

As the avengers stood together, hidden in the weapons room they tried to decide what their next course of action should be. It was clear to them all Natasha needed to get out now, she was barely conscious and blood was still trickling out her mouth, her eyes fluttering open and closed, she didn't have much time.

"Ok Shield should be here soon, but I think we should try and take down as many guards as we can, and we definitely need to get Loki" Steve said, his voice sounded confident, he glanced at Thor when he mentioned the Loki thing.

Before Thor had always considered Loki his brother still, even after the Battle of Manhattan, but after what happened to Natasha, to all of them, had him seriously doubting that, either way he knew catching Loki was their main priority.

As they discussed the tactics of their plan, they all kept sneaking looks at Natasha's lifeless form, the trail of blood seeping from her mouth and a gash on her forehead was exaggerated against the paleness of her skin. If Bruce and Clint hadn't have found her when they did she would have choked to death on her own blood, they made sure to keep her head supported. The sight of her on the floor gasping for air, red bubbling out of her mouth would haunt their dreams forever, all their dreams.

The plan had been decided, they would all stay together as a group, that way they could all go to find Loki and watch each other's backs at the same time. Steve had insisted on carrying Natasha, seeing as he had his shield he was most likely to protect her, that's what he told them anyway. The real reason he wanted to carry Natasha was because he had let her down when she needed him most, so now he was sure as hell going to keep her alive and as safe as he could. Clint agreed he needed both his hands to fight hand-to-hand combat and keep his perfect aim. Bruce may need to hulk out at a moment's notice and he didn't want to risk Natasha. Tony could have carried her but he had seen the pain in Steve's face and decided to let Capsicle have this one. Thor was focused on finding Loki, he was his responsibility.

"We should wait, let everybody rest before we fight again" Thor had said, his voice was weary; no-one liked seeing him like this. Natasha was awake now and lying with her head resting on Clint's chest while her legs were being held by Steve, Tony's metallic hand had grasped hers; he felt like if he could feel her skin she would stay alive, he thought that purely for his own sanity. If Natasha died or any of the avengers died Tony would lose it, mentally that is, he'd probably end up dying anyway.

They all took turn glancing around at their teammates, Natasha mumbled,

"Blankets, bed and sleep" they all smiled softly, Thor gripped her other hand, the difference in size was massive, he spoke his voice low,

"Pop-tarts, marshmellows and Lady Jane" Bruce continued,

"Coffee, books and food" he grinned at the thought, Tony carried on,

"TV, my lab and yeah food" his mouth was watering at the thought of some pasta, Clint smirked

"Blankets, bed and sleep" he looked down and winked at Natasha who just snuggled further into him, this made all the others smile at their two assassins. Steve finished,

"Sleep, the gym and food" he fist bumped Tony and Bruce. The avengers all sat waiting for the inevitable fight that would soon come their way, the things they had listed were not the only things keeping them going; it was the people surrounding them.

They would protect each other till the end of the world, although when they had first been taken they were close, like good friends, now they were family, and there really was a difference. The thing they all wanted most when they got home (hopefully) was actually each other, to just know each and every one of them was safe inside avenger's tower, because that's what they were fighting for. Their family and they were fucking giving it up easily.

**AVENGERS ASSEMBLE AVENGERS ASSEMBLE **

Natasha curled herself into a small ball, as little as she could manage so that she could fit behind the shelter of Steve's shield. She could hear the steady thump of his heart and it comforted her, she needed comfort as bullets rained around her. Somehow she and Steve had managed to get separated from the group and were now outside the building, still in the compound though. She was pretty sure the others had separated to, so much for their master plan.

Before either of the two avengers could react they both hit the cold, hard ground hard. Steve went to help her up but ended up getting into a fight with about six men, while only two came at her. They knew she could barely stand, let alone fight. Fuck Natasha thought because there really was no other word for it, she was screwed. Steve was trying desperately to get to her but he wasn't having much luck, the two other men advanced on Natasha, neither had guns only knives. One of the men placed his heavy boot onto her leg, where it had been shot; the other rested his foot across her stomach sending pain jolting through her. She didn't even flinch, if she was going to die, she wouldn't show pain or fear, the Black Widow mask was on.

Clint had managed to pull himself onto one of the support beams, he had a perfect view of everything inside the floor, exactly where all the fighting was taking place. He would shoot down man after man, never wasting a bullet. He was Hawkeye now, just him and the target, once he decided to hit someone they went down, he was so focused on his task he didn't notice Natasha or Steve missing until it was too late.

Tony felt protected behind his suit, no-one could see his real expression, they couldn't pick up on the fear in his eyes, and that fit Tony perfectly. Not many of the guards could get close to him because he would just shoot them back and the ones that did get a lucky shot well, the people that shot them didn't last any longer than the damage did. He had promised Pepper he would ring her before he did anything that would probably kill him, but he couldn't bring himself to call her now. She didn't need to hear the gunfire or the panicked shouts surrounding him, this was his hell and it didn't need to be hers, so he fought on, thinking of Pepper but not ringing her, he couldn't do that to her.

Thor saw Loki standing on the far side of the room, he was aware that it could be a projection but he highly doubted it, Loki had been waiting for this day for a long time. Thor knew he should wait for the rest of his team, but they were meant to keep pace with him but they broke up and disbanded, Thor assumed they had done it purposely. He stepped towards Loki, who grinned also stepping towards him, both men stared each other down. This was not going to end well for one of them, who though, neither knew.

Natasha froze under the two men's feet, if she moved she knew the pain would be unbearable and she would probably pass out. She watched as Steve shouted and yelled and pretty much went crazy trying to get to her, she tried to smile at him, to reassure him it wasn't his fault. But her vision had gone blurry and her breathing erratic, from the weight on her stomach, it was making blood come out her mouth again, the man realised this and pressed harder. Natasha tried to keep herself propped up on her elbows but failed; her head hit the ground, hard.

The men above her laughed and one of them raised his knife, she shut her eyes, now she could only hear Steve trying his very best to get to her, but whenever he took down one man another two came at him, she could practically feel his anguish. She braced herself for the pain, but it never came, instead the pain lifted off her stomach and leg, she shot her eyes open just as she heard a massive roar, it rattled her bones and everybody outside froze.

Bruce had finally gotten pissed. He had smashed the two men hurting her straight back into the concrete wall of the building, everyone heard the sickening snap. Hulk turned to face the other men who were slowly advancing on her, she still lay on the ground spitting out some blood.

"Hulk protect Red!" he roared in their faces, they did the smart thing and tried to run, but the damage had already been done, he had seen them try to kill Natasha and now he was pissed, well, more pissed than usual. On his way he knocked out nearly all the men fighting Steve and the rest legged it back inside. Steve ran up to Natasha and picked her back up, scanning her for injures he took a deep breath turning to go back inside.

"You ready?" he asked hearing the gunfire in the building.

"Let's kick some fucking ass" she muttered feeling confident. And who wouldn't with a giant hulk standing behind you, daring anybody to come any closer.

Nobody did.

**Review please, it will only take one second and it will make my day….. **


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N PLEASE READ I NEED YOUR HELP! Please tell me where you want this to go after this chapter, because I want to make the story enjoyable for you and I'm not really sure where I want to go with it now, so let me know your thoughts, please review, nearly at 100! **

Once the avengers (minus Thor) re-assembled the first thing they noticed, was in the former place of Bruce Banner now stood a giant green rage monster, Loki was screwed, puny god. Clint told them that Thor had carried on after Loki like he said he would, but Clint had lost sight of them once they went through the metal door on their right. If Thor had managed to track Loki they would now be locked in a vicious battle of brawn against brains, they knew Thor would need their help.

They crept down the hallway silently, well, as silently as possible with a hulk and iron man. They neared the door and stood outside preparing to burst through. Natasha was back on her feet placed behind Tony who would give her the most protection, they all noticed the way he gripped her hand, the hulk was waiting further behind, pacing and smashing walls, Clint and Steve stood side to side, not really prepared to fight Loki, but sure they were going to anyway.

Crash! The avengers burst through the door and spilled into the other side, Loki and Thor were standing face to face, Thor's hammer raised and Loki's spear pointed. Everybody froze; it was awkward in that weird way. It looked like the brothers had been having a very heated argument; no-one knew what to say, so everyone stood shuffling from one foot to the other, Tony broke the silence.

"So we're going to take you into Shield now" no-body replied, not even Loki, he continued to stare at Thor in the same position. Natasha realised before anyone else what was going on, she spun around graceful despite her injures, she used Iron Man as a spring board and kicked Loki square in the chest, the force sending him on the ground. The other turned and realised the Loki next to Thor had been a projection, Natasha swore violently from the jolt of pain sent up her bad leg.

"Fucking hell that hurt!" Thor walked over and placed his hammer on top of Loki.

"Is it just me or did that seem a little easy?" Steve asked suspiciously as they all stared down at the evil god. He blinked back up at them, a sinister smile spread across his face and he chuckled.

"You really don't get it do you?" he was laughing now, and it made the avengers worried,

"Loki what are you talking about?" Clint asked barely able to keep eye contact with the god, Loki knew everything about him, all his secrets, and his every thought.

"I am the god of mischief and tricks, am I not? So do you really think this is it, and you have just beaten me?" the avengers all shared glances, they weren't going to make the same mistake last time, when they had taken him onto the helicarrier just like he wanted, that hadn't ended well, Phil had died. Natasha grimaced and looked down at him, he had to admit he had grudging respect for the spider; she is stronger than the others although it may not look it.

"What the fuck is your game Loki?" she snarled, growing impatient, Loki refused to answer her, he would not get tangled up in her web again,

Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. Loki looked up to the Captain, the saint, the only one on the team whose ledger wasn't gushing red, except maybe Thor. Loki had no respect for this man, he had no intriguing qualities, he was simply good and nothing else.

He turned to stare at the iron man now, he hid behind his armour, underneath it was a normal man, yes, a genius, but he was not brave or strong. Without his armour he would be nothing and the fact made Loki laugh.

The archer was next, he was blinded by love for the spider, he would let himself die for her any day. Loki had seen inside his mind he knew everything about the man, it was obvious he had talent but his mental capacity was not enough, he just had good aim.

The beast, or hulk as others refer to him, Loki had been hoping he wouldn't recognise his friends and kill them all, but he had underestimated Banner something you should never do in your enemy. The hulk had wandered off now, mindless beast nothing else.

That led Loki to focus on Thor, his perfect golden brother, favoured by everyone they met. He wished he could make him suffer writhe in pain, he deserved it. Saying that Loki still remembered the little boys who grew up together, maybe not related in blood, but bound by the heart. He was a shell of that little boy now. They both were.

Thor lifted his hammer off Loki and roughly pulled him up by his collar, his toes still touched the floor.

"Tell us brother, tell us your plan!" his booming voice shook the room, Loki rolled his eyes, Thor just didn't understand it was quite frustrating.

"I am not your brother, but I will tell you this" they all stared at him expectedly, buying himself more time, good. "I once promised to myself, that I would destroy the avengers, even if I died in the process, and I will keep my word" everyone froze glancing around the room as if they expected a fight, Loki smiled again, they really had no clue.

Clint pulled Natasha into his side, Loki was obviously planning something he was going to protect his wife no matter what. Tony and Steve took defensive stances prepared for action, while Thor continued to study Loki's face, as if trying to remember something.

"Why do you look at me like that son of Odin" Loki asked impatiently, sick of Thors stare, Thor sighed as if in defeat.

"I am trying to detect a hint of sorrow or repentance in your features, a trace of the little boy you used to be" Loki's smile faltered slightly, he had done the same to Thor earlier.

"And did you find any" his voice was softer than what it was before, it shocked all of them, but Thor was never one to lie so he told him the truth,

"No, I no longer see that child in you Loki, it is as if he were never you" Thor's voice was laced with sorrow, Natasha reached out and stroked her thumb along his bicep, he appreciated the gesture, he was still holding Loki up by the collar but no longer looking at his face.

Loki threw doubt out of his head, he could not allow Thor back in after everything he's worked for, so instead he smirked again and stared each of them in the eye, hi plan about to be put into effect, he whispered,

"Three…two…one"

It was strange everybody's reactions. Clint grabbed Natasha and pulled her to the floor with him, the force of the explosion propelling them both backwards. Tony was mainly protected by his suit but the explosion was enough to knock him to the ground. Steve managed to put his shield up in time to cover himself form a massive chunk of rock. Thor kept hold of Loki, because despite everything he still loved him, which may sound insane, but they were brothers in heart, even if Loki has forgotten it. The hulk was no longer there, now it was Bruce Banner who had stolen one of the guard's trousers and was sprinting to where he had heard the explosion.

Loki was unconscious, but just in case Thor rested his hammer back on top of him and stumbled to his feet. He glanced around and spotted Steve struggling up. He jogged over and offered him a hand, they both heard a moan from the far corner and saw Tony grumbling and dusting his suit off.

"Clint!" Thor yelled out,

"Nat!" Steve shouted at the same time, they spotted Natasha's leg and all three sprinted over. They found Natasha hidden under Clint's unconscious body, she had tried to wriggle on top of him to protect him during the explosion, but he wasn't having any of it and had pinned her down. Thor gentle rolled Clint over a little to pull Natasha out, amazingly she was alive, not by much but it was still enough. Bruce ran up to them panting, before he could speak Natasha sobbed and dropped to the floor out of Thors arms.

The men all froze no-one had heard her cry before; they had seen tears in her eyes, once maybe twice. But this wasn't even crying this was sobbing, real heartbroken sobs. They knelt down beside her confused, but then they realised, she was breaking over Clint's form, his very still form.

Steve and Tony both put their arms around her, while Bruce gently reached out to check Clint's pulse.

There was none.

**I'm cruel I know…please leave your thoughts I need your help, did you want this to happen, I can still save him or not and we could see how Natasha deals with it….let me know!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N We did it and got more than 100 reviews! You guys are the best! Please enjoy this chapter, the story is coming to an end but I wanna do a couple of chapters about the team recovering, more Clintasha to come and spots of Pepper/Tony. Please still review, thank you all!**

Natasha gripped Clint's still hand, tears streaming down her face. Tony had placed his arm around her waist rubbing her hip comfortingly; Steve had put his arm over her shoulder squeezing it gently so she knew he was there for her. Thor had run outside to get the medics help, Shield had arrived just before the explosion but the avengers hadn't realised. Bruce was now pushing on Clint's chest and tipping his chin back, he was obviously panicked but trying not to show it.

Clint felt like he was sinking, sinking into mud, it was slowing suffocating him. He was aware of someone hitting him on the chest, probably Bruce or Steve he thought. But that wasn't what he was concentrating on; no, he was concentrating on the sobbing sounds coming from Natasha. He could feel her tight grip on his hand, squeezing it trying to pull him out of the mud. He had once promised her, and himself, that he would never hurt her, and here she was crying over his lifeless body and he couldn't even squeeze her hand back.

The Shield medics ran in pushing the avengers to the side, Natasha tried to claw her way back to him but the guys held her back. At first she tried to resist but shuddered and passed out into Thor's arms, before they could move the medics came towards them and whisked her away. They tried to follow their two assassins but Director Fury intercepted him.

"Captain, Thor, Stark, Banner" he nodded at them, they hardly noticed him. "I need to de-brief you all as soon as possible, are any of you injured?" they all shook their heads and tried to push past, but he remained where he was.

"No, well a few cuts and bruises but that's it" Steve said quickly, trying to get a glimpse outside. The others nodded unable to accept the fact that they were actually safe.

"You all need to take a separate jet to Agent Barton and Romanoff, you'd be in the way and it won't help the doctors" Fury said his voice calm, and was that pity? It was clear they all wanted to argue but one look at the director's face and they all shuffled towards their jet.

Natasha was in pieces, her partner/best friend/husband was probably dead because he had protected her, she knew there was no point in fighting death if he was dead, because that would mean she already was. It scared her how guilty she felt for deciding to give up, Steve's face and Thor's and Bruce's and Tony's all flashed across her face, and Pepper and Jane, she had grown fond of the two women. She had already decided though, if Clint didn't wake up neither did she.

**AVENGERS ASSEMBLE AVENGERS ASSEMBLE**

Steve sat on a small plastic chair with his head in his hands, Thor was pacing the length of the corridor, Bruce was dozing in and out of sleep, his head hitting the wall, Tony was talking softly to a distressed Pepper on the phone.

"Err" a nervous looking doctor stepped out, wringing his hands nervously "Clint Barton, Natasha Romanoff" the reaction was instant, each of the avengers jumped up and nearly on top of the poor doctor, he took a step back.

"Are they ok?" Tony asked his phone held out so Pepper could hear the doctor.

"Stable, mostly anyway. Mr Barton has a very serious concussion and his currently on the edge of falling into a coma, we believe talking to him may keep him awake but we're not sure it could go either way, it's a waiting game" they all groaned and heard a sigh from the phone.

"Ok and what about Natasha?" Tony asked his voice quite.

"Mrs Romanoff is extremely weak, she has experience trauma to her lungs by water torture, burns that we have managed to treat and aren't noticeable but very painful, and evidence of rape" he said the last part quietly, but the avengers already knew this, Steve violently kicked a chair over and stormed from the room. They heard Pepper muffle a sob from the other end of the phone, the others didn't react, they had prepared themselves.

"Can we see them?" Bruce asked the doctor smiled slightly.

"Yes, although Mr Rogers is currently with Mr Barton" they nodded and headed towards Natasha's room, which, demanded by Tony, was linked onto Clint's separated only by an unlocked door.

They entered Natasha's room and were surprised at how peaceful she looked, for the hell she'd been through they were expecting worse. She shivered and all the men immediately took off their jackets they had been provided and draped them over her. She looked small bundled underneath them and suddenly they were all furious, furious at the bastards that did it to her and Clint, furious at themselves for not looking after their teammates. Bruce turned a sickly shade of green and Tony rested a hand on his shoulder.

Thor pulled a chair up and enclosed her small hand in his, Bruce did the same on the opposite side, while Tony huddled by her legs rubbing his hands gently up and down. Meanwhile Steve was talking to an unconscious Clint, begging him.

"Please Clint, not for me, not for yourself even, wake up for Natasha" Clint could hear Steve's rambling and knew every word he was saying was right. "Clint, Natasha is unconscious and I know for a fact she won't wake up until you do, if you go into a coma, damn it Clint if you die you know she will to" Clint's pulse raced slightly, Steve's voice was gentle now "Look after everything she's been through, she needs you of course we'll do as much as we can but we're not you Clint only you can really fix her. I'll let you think things through" he left then softly shutting the door behind him and walking up to Natasha and pulled up another chair, nobody asked him what he had said to Clint, some things were better left alone.

Clint reflected on what Steve had said, and knew he was right. He might not be able to fight hard enough for himself but for Natasha, he knew he had to, because she was broken and needed him. It wasn't even that he really wanted Natasha to wake up, just because she would have to deal with the after effects of the last week or so. Then again Natasha was a fighter and she had all the guys and Pepper and Jane on her side, hell she was untouchable right now, well not completely, she would be when Clint got there. And he would get there because it was Natasha and she needed him.

Natasha was vaguely aware of someone massaging her legs and god, it felt nice. She was warm as well, but she just couldn't open her eyes and she knew why. Clint wasn't there, it was probably also because she didn't want reality yet, everything that had happened to her was fuzzy and confused, and she wanted it to stay like that. The thought of waking up without Clint there to hold her, was honestly frightening. She wanted her hawk, but he was the only one not there.

Pepper sprinted down the medical corridor, begging the nurse for the room number for Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton, the nurse refused, Pepper was about to get angry when she spotted Tony who was running straight for her. He caught her up in his arms and Pepper kissed his neck softly but holding him tightly. He pulled away to look into her eyes, waiting for he questions to start.

"Are you ok? Are the others ok? Oh god poor Natasha, is she ok?" Tony put a finger to her lips and pulled her down the hallway nodding to the nurse and entered Natasha's room, only Steve was in there now, Bruce and Thor had gone to visit Clint. Pepper watched as Steve grabbed Natasha's hand and softly rubbed her arm and brushed hair out of her face, Tony whispered softly.

"He thinks it's his fault she got hurt, they made him watch, and he hasn't really left her since" Pepper nodded her eyes filled with concern, for them all. Bruce and Thor walked in then greeting her softly, they glanced down at Natasha's soft face, and it was obvious they all felt guilty. Thor was about to say something when they heard a loud crash from the other room and the door slammed open, eerily similar to what had happened in the cell. This time though it was Clint, he was pointing a gun around the room, Pepper was hidden behind Tony but the others were standing with their arms raised.

Clint just dropped the gun and stumbled over to Natasha, and kissed her head softly whispering,

"Wake up, Tash I'm right here with you" it was exactly what she needed to hear; she let out a shuddery breath and opened her eyes slowly. The others all froze watching the amazing interaction between the assassins, they didn't hear what Natasha said but Clint climbed in next to her and held her protectively close, she shut her eyes against his shoulder while he ran a hand through her hair. He nodded towards the others who resumed their positions from before.

Right then Natasha was untouchable.

**Reviews please? **


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N WARNING: Some injuries are described in the dreams, no too much detail though. This chapter focuses on Tony and Natasha, it relates back to chapter 2 so I hope you remember it. Should this be the last chapter or not? Let me know, review please! **

_Tony opened his eyes to see the dark cold cell he had been held captive in with the other avengers. When he looked around for them he couldn't see anyone, but the door was open. He stepped out aware of buzzing pain shooting around his body, but he just ignored it, he had to find them. The first thing he noticed was three other doors directly in front of him, he stretched out a bloodied arm to open the first door. Inside was Thor, but he was dead with a ragged slit across his throat. Blood pouring down his body, Tony wanted to help but he was already opening the next door, he didn't want to but he couldn't stop. Clint and Steve were in there, both with bullet holes right in between their eyes. Blank eyes stared up at him, but not for long, he was already entering the final room, he knew who was in there. Bruce and Natasha looked the worse, they were still alive. Blood covered every inch of their bodies; they were both writhing and screaming, yelling his name. Every time he tried to get to them a stabbing pain would shot across his entire body, but he couldn't give up, he carried on, but just as he was about to reach them, they froze and whispered his name, _

"_Tony" it sounded so broken, especially coming out of Bruce's lips. Suddenly Clint, Steve and Thor were there, lying in pools of blood, no-one was moving anymore. He cried and tried to shake them, but the pain took over and blackness pulled him in. _

Tony awoke, properly this time, shaking and yelling. Pepper was lying next to him trying to calm him down,

"Tony…Tony honey calm down" she ran a soft hand through his hair, pulling his chin up so he could see her, "You're not there anymore, you're safe in avengers tower, with me, Pepper, yeah?" recognition slowly leaked into his eyes. He nodded careful and shakily stood up.

"I need to be alone for a minute" he left and went straight into the living room, grabbing a bottle of scotch on the way, he plopped down on the couch, but refused to close his eyes, instead feeling the liquid burn down his throat. That was comfort enough.

_Natasha screamed and shouted as the men continued to hit her, they were saying things to her, reminding her of the fire when she was little, he parents terrified screams for their daughter. Natasha remembered hiding from the heat but it had caught her, before she could be consumed someone had pulled her out. Looking back on it she wished the fire had just killed her, but it hadn't. Before she could remember anymore of her past, she was brought back to the present by freezing water being poured over her face. She was choking and spluttering it was filling her lungs, the men stopped but it wasn't water she coughed up, it was blood. It poured out of her, but started choking her just as the water did. Red filled her vision; she turned her head and saw the five bodies of the other avengers all drowning in red, as they yelled her name, but she couldn't help them, she couldn't move. The men picked up a gun each and fired at each avenger, a bullet piercing each of their skulls, silencing there screams, before he died like the others, Clint managed to scream out, _

"_Natasha!" before being swallowed by red, Natasha followed as the red turned to black. _

Natasha leapt out of bed, gracefully without even jostling Clint who was sleeping next to her. She glanced down at him and watched his chest gently rising and falling, slowly she tip-toed towards the door, just as she was about to exit, it was pushed slowly open. Tony stood on the other side concern clearly displayed on his face; his voice was calm and soft.

"Natasha" he gripped her shaking hand "I heard you screaming, and thought I would check on you" Natasha looked up at him, she pushed past and muttered,

"I don't need you to check on me Tony" he blinked as she pulled her hand away and headed straight for the bar which was in the living room. She stole a bottle of vodka and opened the top immediately taking a gulp, she didn't even shudder. Tony just followed her and stood opposite her waiting until she was calm enough for him to talk.

"Nat, I get it I had a dream to" she gripped the bottle tighter, but as his hand slowly reached out for hers she let him take it and lead her down to the couch. "I dreamt you were all dead, we were back in that place but we hadn't escaped, you were all dead, Nat, and I couldn't help you" his voice broke at the end. Natasha placed him down on the couch and curled up into his side both murmuring words of comfort that didn't really mean anything to each other. It wasn't enough and soon they were both reliving their dreams, but they were mixed with reality. They continued to gulp back the alcohol they knew doing that wouldn't help in the long run, but the pain was too much, they needed an escape. Before either of them could get drunk the rest of the avengers appeared in the hallway.

Clint had woken up shortly after Natasha's departure; he knew where she was and who she was with, so he knew if Thor, Bruce and Steve were with him, they could help them. That's why they stood in the doorway, watching as their teammates tried to drown their pain. They slowly walked in, knowing both Tony and Natasha knew they were there but just couldn't be bothered to look at them. Steve knelt beside them and gently tried to pry the bottle out of Natasha's hands; Bruce did the same for Tony. Both held onto them, so instead they let them keep them, but made sure they didn't drink anymore.

Natasha sat up and wriggled into the centre of the couch, while Tony pulled his legs down to make more room, it was an invitation. Clint sat down and pulled Natasha so she was half lying on him and had her legs placed on Tony's, it was obvious they didn't want to be separated, so Steve, Bruce and Thor pushed the armchairs in a semi-circle around the couch, each one within reaching distance. Bruce sat in the one nearest to Tony and grabbed his hand; he needed the reminder that there were people with him. Steve sat in the one nearest Natasha, he was still beating himself up about her torture, but she reached across Clint and gripped his hand, pulling it to her face. Thor sat in the middle; he wasn't connected to anybody, that is until Tony and Natasha shared a look and each pulled one of his legs onto the couch, resting on theirs.

Pepper watched in the doorway knowing not to disturb them, they needed each other. Bruce caught her eye and slowly stood, so he didn't startle anyone and walked over to her.

"Hey Pepper could you do me a massive favour…" Pepper listened as he explained what he needed done, a small smile spread on her lips when he finished she nodded,

"I'll do it right away, Bruce I hope it helps" before she could head off, Bruce gripped her wrist.

"You know, you're welcome to stay, right?" she just grinned at him and patted his hand.

"This is something between you six" he nodded and turned back to the others. Once he was in his seat, they all relaxed slightly, but Tony and Natasha were still tense, Natasha had silent tears streaming down her face, no-body pointed it out.

**AVENGERS ASSEMBLE AVENGERS ASSEMBLE **

Pepper returned within an hour supporting a tray in her arms. She smiled sadly at each of the people still in the same positions as when she had left. Natasha was the first to notice what she was carrying, Bruce and Pepper waited for a response, both praying it would be good. It was.

A small smile spread onto Natasha's face and she let out a little laugh, which shocked the others into noticing Pepper. She left the room again, each avenger leant forward to see what was on the tray she had handed to Bruce, it was six huge bowls of melted chocolate. Melted Cadbury milk chocolate. This made them all smile, they reached out and all took a bowl; they lifted it to their lips in sync and started to drink. Within seconds they were all spluttering and laughing, clinging onto each other for breath. Chocolate stained all their teeth and lips, Tony grinned wickedly and tipped the rest of his chocolate onto Natasha's head, she yelped, everyone froze. She scooped out a handful of hers and flicked it right on his face; soon they were all flinging melted chocolate at each other, but by the end they were all smiling and laughing and the bottles of vodka and scotch lay forgotten on the floor.

**Please review, should I finish here or one more chapter? **


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N Guys I am so damn sorry I haven't updated! ****IMPORTANT: Should this be the last one or not tell me what you think. **

**I've got this idea for this new Clintasha story do you think I should go for it, it'll be sad, very sad, let me know if you'll read it, if people say they will I'll get right on it **

**Please Review it means so much! **

**WARNING: mentions of alcohol, drugs, and addictions and self-harm…dark sorry! **

A huge crash echoed through the halls of Shield headquarters, Nick Fury froze as he imagined every possibility that could be happening; of course one naturally stood out from the rest…The Avengers. As he walked briskly down the corridor, he watched other lower agents stare curiously at him then back to the door to the gym, dear god what have they done? Was all he could think, he was sprinting down the hall now. As he reached the door he realised it was locked he pulled out his card to scan it through, it wasn't locked though, it was blocked. Motherfuckers.

Obviously he did the thing anyone would do; he broke the door into little pieces and climbed through. What he saw was…interesting to say the least. The gym looked like a war zone, and the avengers looked like they were in a war. Bruce and Tony were hiding behind a trolley of weights occasionally popping out and aiming baseballs around the rest of the room, where the hell did they get baseballs? They were shouting insults and threats the whole time, but both had huge smiles on their faces. Fury spotted Clint and Natasha crouching behind a pile of training mats, Clint was expertly firing random objects towards the weights and treadmills, Natasha was trying to help but in uncontrollable fits of laughter, it was nice to see. He finally spotted Thor and Steve behind the treadmills but also running around the room in random bursts, both retaliating and laughing at the same time.

"What do you little shits think you are doing!" Fury yelled his voice bounced off the gym walls and the avengers all froze, Clint spoke up first.

"We were trying to decide what film to watch later but we couldn't agree, so we decided to fight it out" Fury rolled his eyes in disbelief, a perfectly aimed baseball hit him right in the head and he heard Bruce and Tony quietly snickering from their border.

"I don't give a shit about what movie you watch, but I want you little motherfuckers out my gym right now!" he yelled spinning the baseball right back at them, he heard a hard thump and Tony's yelp, he inwardly fist-pumped. They all mumbled agreements and stood up slowly, warily glaring at each other. Fury stormed out again his hand hovering over his gun.

"So what are we going to do about tonight" Steve asked as they all filed out the gym towards the car park. He wanted to watch old world war two films, Clint wanted to watch the Hunger Games, Natasha wanted to watch The Notebook, Tony wanted to watch Star Wars, Bruce wanted to watch Harry Potter and Thor didn't really care.

"Ok let's look at this logically, we choose the most attractive out of us" Tony said confidently winking at Bruce who coughed awkwardly.

"No Tony and anyway that would not be you, we should ask Pepper to choose out of each film and we won't tell her who wants what" they all nodded except Tony who pouted and muttered,

"I am a sexy beast" under his breath.

The avengers all gathered in the living room, on the coffee table were five DVD's. Pearl Harbour, The Notebook, The Hunger Games, Star Wars and Harry Potter, Pepper walked slowly up and down the length of the table occasionally reaching out and reading the back of the film. Everyone waited with baited breath as they prayed their film was to be picked. Natasha grinned inwardly as she and Pepper winked very discreetly, only Clint noticed but he had already told Nat if she wanted to watch The Notebook he would give up his film for her. Both women thought this was very cute, but the real reason Clint agreed was because he actually loved that film but that was a secret he would take to his grave, it made him cry every time he watched it.

"So I know which one" Pepper announced after a minute or two, they all leaned forward expectantly "The Notebook!" Everybody froze except Natasha who jumped up and high fived Pepper.

"Cheated!" Tony yelled pointing his finger at the women "You cheated didn't you!" Pepper just kissed his cheek quickly while Natasha stuck her finger up at him, laughing. He didn't really mind though not any more, he could watch Star Wars tomorrow. Clint went over to the phone a proceeded to order pizza, which alone took ten minutes for the Avengers.

"Vegetable" Natasha shouted from a chair,

"Pepperoni" Bruce and Steve yelled,

"I would also like this pepperoni" Thor declared biting into a pop-tart,

"I'll have vegetable" Pepper said breaking away from her conversation with Natasha.

"Ok" Clint began talking to the guy on the phone "So two extra-large Vegetable and Pepperoni pizza's please"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Tony exclaimed quickly jumping up from his seat "I want spicy" they all stared at him.

"Tony you hate spicy food" Pepper whined, of course Tony would do this,

"Not true I love spicy food" he retaliated.

"Fine" Natasha interrupted "Get the Pepperoni and spicy one then."

"Ok sorry can I please replace the vegetable pizza with a spicy one please" Clint muttered shooting Tony death glares.

"Wait!" Tony shouted, they all turned to glare at him, "I want vegetable now."

"No Tony shut up and sit down" Steve growled from his seat at Natasha's feet, Tony swore at him.

"Please Legolass, please, please, please" he smiled sweetly.

"Fine, look mate I'm really sorry can we please have two extra-large pizza's one vegetable and one pepperoni" Clint amended while nearly killing Tony with his eyes. Once Clint had finally ordered and sat down they put in the film. Natasha and Clint lay curled up together on the love seat, a blanket draped loosely over them. Thor and Steve took the main couch, both stretched out and comfortable, Bruce took a big armchair next to them, while Tony ad Pepper took another couch. Twenty minutes into the movie and the elevator bell rang to signal the pizza guy.

Once they had received their food and all back in their places, the movie carried on running. All of them looked content, Bruce, Steve and Thor looked calm, Tony looked happy, Natasha and Pepper looked asleep, but peaceful and Clint looked content playing with Natasha's hair. Once the movie was over and everyone had dried their eyes before anyone could see, they separated ways and went to bed.

Well, they didn't really go to bed.

Once the hallway was quiet Tony snuck off into his lab a bottle of scotch in his hand and continued to try and drink his troubles away.

Bruce trailed off to his lab; once he was inside and the door looked he took out a small knife and began cutting his arm, smiling at the pain.

Clint headed out towards the roof and took out a small roll of cocaine, he needed to get high.

Steve went down to the gym and began working out over and over again, he couldn't stop yet.

Thor stepped into the kitchen and drank coffee, lots of coffee, cups on top of cups, he needed to stay awake or he'd see it all again.

Natasha had escaped the tower and gone to a rundown bar, out of the way, here she wasn't Natasha Romanoff, she was nobody and it was fucking great.

Fury, Pepper, Rhodey, Jane and the whole of America thought the Avengers were ok, that they had lived through their ordeal and were stronger because of it. But they weren't because the hero's that the avengers used to be…well, they died in that cave and only the shells of the people are what are left.

**Sorry for that mood killer… ;)**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N Sorry for any mistakes in a rush ;) Last chapter I hope you enjoy and thank you **** follow me as an author or send me a PM if you ever want me to write something for ya (not that I'm good enough, but still a girl can dream)! **

Tony and Bruce: 

Do you want to know who Tony's best friend is? Well, it's not his science bro; it's not Rhodey or any of the other avengers. You see your best friend is someone you depend on, so it is very sad to say that it is his bottle of scotch. Ever since the kidnapping in Afghanistan, hell even before that Tony loved his alcohol it became more than a drink, saying that, he had always had a problem with alcohol but he had managed to beat it, until returning home from the hell he had recently lived in with the other avengers.

Tony was sitting in the middle of his lab; he had pushed the desks into a line halfway across the room, when Bruce had asked him about it he had said it was for a top secret experiment that not even his science bro could know about, Bruce had looked sceptical but left anyway. In reality though it was so no-one could see him excessively drinking because if they did they would try and help him, and he was fine, he really was ok.

It was a Saturday night, Steve and Thor had gone for a long run and workout in the gym, Bruce was in his lab and Natasha and Clint were watching a film together in the living room all cuddled up and cosy, it made him miss Pepper who was away on a board meeting. So naturally Tony went to his best friend, a bottle of scotch, he trailed into a lab and was about to pick up a glass but decided to just drink straight out the bottle. As he flopped to the floor, he wasn't sure how much time had passed but he heard the door swing open and gentle, slow footsteps come closer.

"Tony, what are you doing?" Bruce asked as he peered over at his friend but as soon as he had stepped in the lab he knew what was going on, he could read Tony like a book. He quickly swung over the desks and kneeled down next to his friend, who was thankfully not drunk yet, however Bruce had forgotten to pull his sleeves down revealing a line of small scars trailing up his arms. Tony noticed before Bruce could pull them down, his eyes widened and he sat up and grabbed Bruce's arm firmly keeping it in place.

"Bruce…" Tony trailed off completely forgetting his own problems "I didn't know…why?" Bruce sighed well he might as well use this to his advantage.

"Probably the same reason you've been drinking away your problems" they gave each other hard stares, Bruce broke first "fine because I can't get over it, the fact that we actually lived through it doesn't seem real…" Tony nodded in understanding.

"I get it, it feels like you lost the good, strong part of yourself in there, and now only the shit parts are left" Bruce agreed and they sat in silence for another ten minutes.

"What do we do?" Bruce asked his quiet voice echoed around the lab. Tony turned to face him as he threw the bottle of scotch across the room.

"We get better, because I can help you and you can help me, right?" they both considered what Tony had said but ultimately Bruce nodded and they shook hands, like men, before hugging it out.

That night as Tony lay in bed he reflected on his and Bruce's meeting, so maybe he wasn't ok, and maybe he did need help, he wasn't really sure. But he was sure on one thing; Bruce was by far the best friend he had ever had.

Clint and Thor: 

Clint was shaking he knew he should have stopped this before it became too bad, he shouldn't do drugs that was the first thing Shield taught every agent, it would ruin your career in the future and soon it would take over your life. That was good and everything but what if you didn't care what your future was? Or your career? So maybe that's why he ignored it, that's what he tells himself anyway, the real reason he didn't stop was because he couldn't do it by himself, and he was not asking Natasha for help because he would not burden all his problems on the one person he loved more than anything else, besides he could see she was struggling as well but refused to talk about it, and he obviously wasn't in much state to help himself let alone anyone else.

So anyway, that is why Clint was sat on the roof, his hands shaking because he just wanted his drugs so bad, but he knew he had to stop, and he had to force himself to get better. That was another reason why he honestly didn't care when he heard the door to the roof sliding open and a gust of warm air from inside hit him, at first he thought it was Natasha but as soon as he heard the heavy, large footsteps knew who it actually was.

"Clint…" Thors low soothing voice hit his ears with a force that made his hands tremble more "I had the electronic man voice from the ceiling explain your situation to me" he didn't carry on instead he waited for Clint's reaction. Clint just shrugged, but his answer surprised Thor,

"I need help Thor" he had never heard the archer sound so defeated so he came and sat next to him, he looked up towards the stars and thought of Asgard, his father, his brother, his other life.

"I haven't slept in a week" Thor said calmly as Clint's head shot up to look him in the eye, he just nodded and continued "I too am addicted, but to the drink you call coffee, well I say I am addicted to it but the actually problem is that I do not want to stop drinking it because I do not want to sleep, I will see it all again and I can't take that" he couldn't look Clint in the eye after his little speech.

"What are we going to do, I don't think I can stop I don't deserve to stop, I'm not a good enough person to deserve help!" Clint basically shouted this, he was obviously nearly depressed. Suddenly Thor was shouting to but at Clint,

"You are my friend archer, therefore I know exactly how to get you to stop and you know how? By reminding you of Natasha because if you don't stop you're not only hurting yourself but her and I know you never want to do that and I don't' want to see either off you hurt, so stop it and get over yourself!" Clint glared at him and screamed back,

"Well at least I am not meant to be a king but can't even close my eyes because I can't control my own thoughts, we need you on top of your game Thor because one wrong move because you are tired or whatever and one of us, who isn't a god could be dead!" neither spoke for a minute, just letting the others words sink in. before almost simultaneously standing up and smiling at each other heading inside silently agreeing to help the other, they'd already used words.

Natasha and Steve: 

Natasha sat in some forgotten bar in the corner of a forgotten street as a forgotten person. She was sick of being in constant danger or having another enemy trying to torture her, she flinched at the word torture. She knew that she wasn't alone not really, she had the guys and of course Clint, they would all watch her back but that was five people out of seven billion in the world that wouldn't try and hurt her. Not the best number. She didn't drink much while she was at the bar; she was hiding, from herself.

She thought back to the pain those men had caused her under Loki's command, the pain wasn't the worst part, the worst part was what they left behind, because Natasha was thoroughly fucked up now and she couldn't sort herself out. She glanced out the window she was sitting next to, it was raining outside and the drops were dancing on the window, they were free. She heard the door slam open, but didn't bother looking up, it was either someone coming to give her a mission or one of the incredibly drunk idiots around her, she did glance up however when the large person sat opposite her.

"Steve? Why are you here?" she asked not showing her shocked emotions. He looked almost apologetic but more concerned.

"I was running and I saw you from outside" he ran a hand through his soaking hair, that was dripping down his face "it's dangerous here, you shouldn't be here alone" she shrugged her shoulders, she didn't care. Yes, she was an assassin so she could take down people twice her size but that doesn't mean it's not dangerous for her to be here alone, people seem to forget she is still a fucking person…who can be broken.

"I'm fine don't worry" she kept staring out the window refusing to meet his searching eyes, but he was having none of it, he reached out and touched her cheek moving her head slightly so she looked at him.

"No you're not fine, but neither am I and Nat…I need your help" she knew he was telling the truth because he couldn't look her in the eye now. "I keep working out instead of sleeping and doing stuff I should be like…like paperwork!" she chuckled softly at that but grabbed his hand and rubbed her thumb over his tense knuckles.

"Steve I don't even know what's wrong with me, I just can't get over it…any of it!" he of course understood what she mean by it, he pulled his hand out of hers and moved around the table so he was sitting next to her, she turned her body into him as tears ran down her face, she was shaking, but he wasn't doing much better.

"Shh Nat its ok, I'm here" he consoled running a big hand through her soft hair "I'll help you ok, and you can help me" she nodded into his shoulder, neither had plans to move until both their phones started ringing at the same time.

They left the bar immediately, as soon as they stepped outside Iron Man carrying Bruce landed next to them and Thor carrying and awkward Clint followed.

"Are you two ok?" Tony asked slowly, it dawned on him that if anyone was having trouble getting over the torture it would be Natasha and Steve.

"Yeah we're fine" Natasha said and she meant it, Steve would help her and she would help him. They shared a look and smiled softly, all the avengers turned to face the new threat that was flying around New York City.

And they looked like themselves again…heroes again.

**And we're done WOOO! Thank you to everyone who reviews and has reviewed/favourite/followed I love you all! **


	16. Chapter 16

**Hello guys, **

**So you haven't heard from this story from a long time, right? :D **

**Well, I did get a few requests for a sequel to 'Tortured' so I'm just letting you know there is a sequel already up; it's called 'Unforgiving Enemies.' It has much more of a plot line and includes more of the characters and isn't solely focused on Natasha. As an added bonus Loki is in it, whether he's good or bad I haven't decided yet...mwhaha. **

**So anyway, there are a few chapters posted and I urge you to give it a try, if you liked 'Tortured' you will like this because there is more Tony, Clint, Steve, Bruce, Thor and Loki but there is still going to be lots of whump! I'm sorry if you see this as shameless advertising because it isn't, it is a sequel and I couldn't think of another way to let you guys know. **

**So thank you for reading my ramblings! **

**-Keepcalmandwrite xoxo **


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